


Does The Wolf Apologize?

by EsriteIatha



Series: Does The Wolf Apologize? [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, Supernatural Elements, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-02-06 09:31:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 53,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12814647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EsriteIatha/pseuds/EsriteIatha
Summary: Tim finds out a secret that his team had kept from him, when he witnesses one of his teammates coming back to life. He enters into an universe, where nothing is what it should be and no one what it should be. Moreover, he knows that there is one more secret, that he has to investigate. How did he end up being the boy who runs with the supernatural?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I think there are hundreds of NCIS stories with supernatural elements, but I couldn't help it. This damn plotbunny wouldn't leave me alone. I hope you'll enjoy it! 
> 
> I don't own NCIS. (I'd love to and things would be completely different, but we can't have always what we want)

_The hurricane knows, step aside when it hits the coast_

_(Stay Alive - Hidden citizens)_

  


Tim McGee took the stairs two at the time. His chest pounded painfully against his ribcage. His hands were sweating so badly that he nearly dropped his SIG. He stopped by the door, behind which he knew that the commotion was (had been?) taking place. He had heard shots. Four to be exact. He wrapped his fingers around the handle and took a deep breath. Four shots. Part of his team was in there. He was an agent. He can do this!

 

With one last deep breath, he pushed the door open.

 

Tim froze in shock at the sight in front of him. Four bodies lay on the ground. Three men dressed in black lay in their separate pool of blood, but the fourth…

 

“Kate?” Tim gasped.

 

Kate was on the ground too. Her light pink colored blouse was drenched in blood. Her dark eyes stared up at the ceiling unseeing.  Gibbs was crouching next to her, his face turned towards Tim. McGee’s mind tried to tell him something, that something was not right with his boss’s blue eyes, but the sight of the carnage pushed the investigator part of his brain to the background.

 

“Boss?” his tone begged for an explanation.

 

Gibbs slowly rose to his feet. Blue eyes flicked between their dead teammate and the one that was gapping by the door.  “McGee ---”

 

No one would know what he wanted to say, because the next moment with a loud gasp, Kate sat up.

 

“Son of a---”

 

Tim didn’t hear the rest of her sentence. His blood decided that his brain was a suboptimal place to be and rushed out of it. Tim descended into darkness.

 

***

 

The first thing he saw, when he finally managed to peel open his eyelids, was a pair of way too amused green eyes. Tim yelped and jerked himself away from his senior teammate. Tony cocked his head to the side and watched his fumblings curiously.

 

“Not nice, Probie!” he pouted. Tim tried to collect himself by assessing the man in front of him. His attention was captured by the pen between Tony’s long fingers.

 

“Did you draw on me?” Tim’s hands flew to his face. The mischievous senior field agent just pouted again.

 

“Didn’t have time. How are you, Probie?” Tony looked more curious than concerned, but Tim ignore this fact.

 

The younger man looked around. Tony’s question reminded him that something was definitely off. He decided to assess his situation. First, the where. He was half-sitting, half-lying on an uncomfortable couch. That said furniture had gotten a place in an old office. Looking through the dirty windows, he could see the inside of a warehouse. The warehouse, which the team decided to investigate. They had a case, a missing petty officer, Randy Larsen. This building had originally belonged to Larsen’s uncle but had been inherited by the petty officer five years ago. Gibbs’ gut had said to investigate, so they had come here. They had paired up, Gibbs with Kate and Tim with Tony. While the others had approached the building from the front, their pair had decided to go for the back. Tim remembered stepping around the building and spotting the man walking through the back door. The man had stared at them, his eyes finding the badge on Tim’s hip. Tony’s body had tensed visibly next to him.

 

“You shouldn’t run!” Tony had warned the stranger. Of course, the man had run.

 

“No one listens to me!” the SFA had complained, but he had been already all but flying through the air after the retreating form.

 

Tim had tried to keep up, he really had, but the other two were impossibly fast and soon they had disappeared into the maze of the buildings. Tim had stopped and gasped for air. Leaving his partner without back up had left an awful feeling in his stomach, but there had been nothing he could do. He had vowed to put more cardio training into his schedule.

 

Then he had heard the shots and decided to rush to the aid of his boss and another teammate.

 

But how had he ended up on the couch?

 

“What happened?” he asked Tony, who had been watching him with more patience, than what Tim though the guy was capable of.

 

“You slipped on a patch of blood.” DiNozzo’s grin was wide. “According to Kate, it was a hell of a scene!”

 

Tim felt his face heat up. He had barely become a field agent, but he kept messing up in dangerous situations. He quickly buried his face in his hands.

 

“Not funny, Tony!”

 

“Admit it! It kinda is!” Tim heard the grin in the other man’s voice. Then he felt the man’s fingers ruffling his short hair. “Don’t pout, Probie! We got a perp and three corpses! Up! Up!”

 

“Perp?” Tim’s head shot up. “You’ve caught him?”

 

“Of course I did!”

 

Tim shuddered at the grin on the SFA’s face.

 

***

Tony had left after that. The silence allowed Tim to think a bit. Something was bugging him about his fall. For one, his head didn’t hurt. Not even a bit. He didn’t have lots of experience with concussions, it was more of Tony’s territory, but he would think that a headache should be obligatory. He examined the back of his head with his fingers. No bumps, no pain. He frowned.

 

With a frustrated growl, he gave up. He grabbed his stuff from the desk next to the couch and left the office. The warehouse was huge and it had a mezzanine, which from you could enter into the three offices. Tim had been resting in the middle one. After hearing the shots, he had been running into the third one on the left. He made his way towards that office, but he stopped at the door. He could see Ducky and Palmer crouching next to one of the corpses. Tim blinked. The way those three was lying. It was familiar. He glanced down onto the ground. He sucked in a deep breath through his teeth. There was no smeared blood close to the door. He slowly backed out of the office and looked around carefully. No one was paying attention to him, so he leaned against the railing and examined his soles. He slowly lowered his foot back onto the ground and blinked ahead.

 

There was no blood on his shoes.

 

“Tim?” he snapped his eyes towards the source of the sound. “How is your head?”

 

Tim didn’t reply just stared. Kate was wearing a blue colored blouse.

 

***

In a typical Gibbs fashion, they left their perp, Jeffrey Fletcher, to cool in interrogation.  Tony cheerfully announced that he was going for lunch and strode out of the bullpen before anyone could utter a word.

 

“I’m so not eating that.” Kate muttered to herself. She stood and walked away  with a glare. Tim looked around carefully. Gibbs was with Morrow. Tony out. Kate out. He was alone in the bullpen. He stood slowly and walked around his desk. Kate’s bag was there. Tucked under her desk securely. Tim eyed it uneasily.

 

Could he do it? Well, he probably shouldn’t do it. Scratch that, he really shouldn’t do it, but… Tony had got away with it all the time and probably.... The need to know...

 

While his brain hesitated, his body moved. He crouched down behind Kate’s desk and pulled the bag towards him. He didn’t have to search long. He just pulled the zip open and it was there. It was wrapped into a plastic bag, but the dark color of the dried blood was visible through it. Without thinking Tim snatched it out of the bag, closed it back and quickly placed it under the desk. He hid the plastic bag under his suit jacket and he made his way as casually as he could to the elevator. He pushed a random button and waited for the door to close. As soon as the elevator started to move, he flicked the emergency switch on just like how he had seen Gibbs do it. The elevator stopped with a shudder. Tim felt like shuddering too. He noticed that his fingers were shaking as he opened the plastic bag. He fingered the soft, originally pink colored blouse. The dry blood had hardened the fabric. Then he found the hole. The edges were burnt. He carefully shook the blouse out. The hole was in the middle of it. He was no doctor, but even he could tell that the bullet trajectory went through the bottom part of the heart.

 

Kate shouldn’t be alive.

 

Tim stared ahead. When he had seen Kate in that blue blouse, the scene of Kate coming back to life had flashed across his eyes. It was like some shield had broken and the memories had come to the surface. But how? What was going on? He needed answers.

 

He quickly wrapped the shirt back into the plastic bag and hid them under his suit again. He flicked the switch again and pushed another button on the control panel. He was an investigator, he knew what he needed. Evidence.

 

The elevator’s door opened and he strode out. He was so lost in his racing thoughts that he didn’t notice that something was off. That there was no music. He did notice though, when three pairs of eyes turned towards him as soon as he stepped into Abby’s lab.

 

***

Kate and Abby had the deer caught in the headlight looks and owlish blinks. Gibbs just stared. Or glared. Yep, Tim was sure it was a glare.

 

“McGee! Don’t you have a job to do? A crime to investigate?” Gibbs asked sharply.

 

Normally Tim would end up as a stuttering mess face to face with Gibbs wrath, but this time something snapped. Something was different. He had been lied to by no other, but his team. So, he didn’t stutter, he didn’t run. He reached under his suit and pulled his evidence out. The look on Kate's face was almost funny. Almost.

 

“I’m investigating something!” he said with confidence that was born of anger and curiosity.

 

“You searched my stuff!” Kate sounded outraged.

 

“You lied to me!” he shot back. He was actually proud of himself as his voice hadn’t trembled.

 

Abby’s knuckle collided with Gibbs’ shoulder. “You said you made him forget!” she complained.

 

“Made me forget???” that though came out few octaves higher than originally intended. Tim shook his head in a desperate attempt in clearing it. “I don’t understand! Kate, if this is real, than you should be dead! I’m your teammate, am I not? Don’t I have the right to know?” 

 

“Tim,  I’ve been dead for a really long time now.” Kate’s voice sounded defeated.

 

“Kate!” Gibbs growled a warning, but the smaller woman just turned on him, dark eyes bright with anger.

 

“No, Gibbs! He is right! He is our teammate and he does have the right to know! We deal with our kind all the time! Knowledge could keep him safe!”

 

“Your kind?” Tim asked back, but the others just ignored him.

 

“I think Kate is right, Bossman!” Abby’s voice was filled with enthusiasm. She did tiny jumps in her highheels. “Timmy can take it!”

 

Tim nodded along with her without really thinking about it. He turned his gaze to Gibbs and watched. His boss’ body was rigid, his eyes arctic as he stared (okay, glared) back. Then in front Tim’s eyes, the impossible happened. Gibbs gave in.

 

“Fine!” he snapped at the women. “You explain!”

 

Oh, and they did explain. They explained so well, that few minutes later Tim felt his knees go weak. A chair appeared under him, but he didn’t have enough braincells left to think about the how. So, apparently his boss was a vampire, Kate a zombie, their forensic scientist a witch, their ME an owl spirit and Palmer was an actual gremlin! Tim’s head was spinning. It all sounded like a crazy dream, but he couldn’t help but like it. He had always been way too fascinated by fantasy novels for his own good. He rubbed his face with his hands.

 

“I need confirmation.  Evidence!”

 

“I’ve given you evidence. You have my shirt!” Kate waved at the ruined fabric that ended up on the counter next to one of the machines. Bert rose up into the air and floated towards him slowly. He danced around a bit, then flew to Abby’s arm farting happily away.  The goth and Kate looked expectantly at Gibbs , who seemed to be ignoring the whole situation.

 

“Bossman!” Abby warned him. Gibbs growled something, but the color of his eyes shifted to another kind of blue, one which was glowing brightly around suddenly dilated pupils. Tim didn’t need to see fangs, this sight was terrifying on its own. Tim gulped loudly and looked away. Then something clicked in his mind.

 

Someone was missing.

 

“And Tony?” he asked.

 

“What about Tony?” Abby blinked. She was still in the middle of her enthusiastic magic play with Bert and her mind didn’t have time to catch up with him.

 

“What is Tony?”

 

“Human.” Kate shrugged.

 

That made Tim frown. From the very beginning, he had looked up at the SFA.  Even now, although he tried to keep his respect a secret. The description the other agents had given him in Tim’s opinion had fitted well. The Wild Card. And now, as he was wrapping his head around the fact that the supernatural actually existed, people try to tell him that the Wild Card was simply a human?

 

“Are you sure?” he asked.

 

“We can never be sure, Tim.” Kate explained. “He may be something or have a latent gene somewhere inside him, but supernatural creatures usually recognize each other. We are drawn to each other. There is a pull and a trace. We didn’t feel anything around him, the same with you.” her smile was apologetic at the end.

 

The way she explained nudged at Tim’s mind. “Wait. Does he know?”

 

The women shared an uncomfortable look.

 

“Timmy, you know how Tony is.” Abby started. “He wouldn’t accept it.”

 

“Just because he is not a geek?” Tim asked back. “Now that I know, you should tell him too!” he pressed.

 

“No.” Gibbs spoke finally. “You have been told. You have to swear secrecy. You can tell no one! Not your family, not your friends, not even DiNozzo! Am I clear?”

 

“Yes!” Tim barely swallowed back the ‘sir’.

 

“Good! End of discussion! Now, back to work!” the accompanying glare had Tim hurrying to the elevator.

 

***

“Probie! Where is everyone?”

 

Tim nearly jumped out of his skin, when Tony’s cheerful voice welcomed him back to the bullpen. The SFA was sitting at his own desk munching on a slice of pizza. There were four boxes in front of him and by the look of it he had already eaten the half of the first one.

 

DiNozzo cocked his head to the side. “Are you okay, McJumpy?”

 

“Yeah, just… I was thinking about… things.” he tried to hurry past the SFA, while strictly looking at the floor. He had barely time to emergency brake as a pizza box was held out in front of him.

 

“I think you are hypoglycemic!” Tony mused.

 

Before Tim could take the offered food, the box was snatched away.

 

“Sitrep, now!” Gibbs growled around the slice of pizza he had placed into his mouth. Tony handed another box to Tim, then tried to offer one to Kate, who refused with a grimace.

 

“So, our petty officer, Randy Larsen is certainly part of some very hinky business.” Tony started.

 

“Well, I think we noticed, when he tried to shoot me!” Kate chirped in sarcastically.  

 

“Now, now, Pointy Elbow! It’s not nice interrupting someone else!”

 

“I’ll show you not nice if you don’t hurry up!” Gibbs growled.  

 

While Tony reported what they knew so far, Tim sank back into his thoughts. He tried the impossible and push the new revelations into the back of his mind as Gibbs was expecting him to do and concentrate on the case. So, Randy Larsen had been reported  missing by his superior this morning. According to his comrades, Larsen had trouble with following orders, he was uppish, arrogant and cantankerous. The MCRT had done a background search on him and they had found out that he had problems with the law even as a teenager. They had also found out about that outrageously big warehouse and armed with a warrant they had gone to check it out. Inside the building Gibbs and Kate had found Larsen with three other men. As soon as Larsen had taken a look at Gibbs, he had pulled his gun and the shooting had started. Then Tim’s world had been turned upside down.

 

“McGee!”

 

Tim nearly jumped out of his skin, when Gibbs’ voice thundered through his thoughts.

 

“Oh… Yes?” he blinked.

 

“The financials, McGee?” Gibbs’ hissed through clenched teeth.

 

McGee fumbled with his keyboard and brought up the program that was… “Still, running.” he reported.

 

“And the BOLO?”

 

“BOLO?” Tim asked back with wide eyes.

 

“The BOLO on that car with which Larsen sped away!” Gibbs by the look of it was a second away from going ballistic.

 

“Took care of it already.” Kate spoke breaking the tension. Tim shot her a thankful look and avoided looking at his boss. He really needed to get his head back in the game, but come on, vampires and witches…

 

“So, Jeffrey Fletcher…” Tony pulled Gibbs attention towards himself. The concerned look the SFA had sent towards Tim told its own tale. “By the way, Boss, that guy has been sitting in interrogation for over an hour now…”

 

Gibbs decided that glaring was a proper way of communication, so he did just that.

 

“Jeffrey Fletcher, pity criminal, thug to hire. More muscle, than brain. Although, his mile/minute ratio is quite impressive. Not as much as mine, but it’s good!” Tony grinned widely. The head slap happened so fast, Tim wasn’t even sure he had seen it happen. Tony blinked and rubbed the back of his head. Then he went back to his report on the number of assault and other felonies Fletcher was responsible for. When he finally finished, Gibbs announced, okay, growled that he was going to do the interrogation finally and left with Tony following him cheerfully.

 

Tim moved to go too, but was stopped by Kate’s hand on his wrists. Her dark eyes were serious.

 

“I know it’s a lot to take in, but you have to concentrate on the case.” she looked around checking that no one was close to hear. She leaned forward. “More so, because Gibbs thinks supernatural elements might be at play here.”

 

***

 

Tony watched Gibbs go at Fletcher. This time he was happy to just observe through the oneway glass. During the day there had been a shift in his team and the center of the shift had been Tim. His probie was not present mentally. He was pretty sure that it had something to do with the blood he could smell on Kate and later, on Tim. He bared his teeth without noticing. He took it really badly, when someone hurt his people.

 

In the other room Fletcher first refused to say anything and when he finally did speak, he lawyered up. Tony cursed softly to himself as Gibbs slammed the file close, then stormed out of the room. Not good. Tony straightened himself and made is way out of observation. He needed a lead.

 

He needed to hunt!

 

***

Gibbs couldn’t even enjoy the way how other agents jumped out of his way, because of his annoyance.

 

“Tell me you have something!” it came out as a growl.

 

Kate’s and Tim’s head shot up in unison. Gibbs raised his eyebrow as McGee all but hid behind his monitor. He really hoped that Kate and Abby were right about the young man. The damage control would cost way too much.

 

“Actually we have something. Agent Dorset’s team found interesting things in the warehouse.” Kate spoke. Her dark eyes bore into his and he immediately straightened his posture.

 

“These look like ancient weapons. Knifes, swords, daggers. Wow!” McGee nearly climbed into his computer in his enthusiasm.

 

Tony hurried past Gibbs and leaned over his probies shoulder.

 

“These must be ancient!” he nodded. “Smuggling? Grave robbery? This is so Indiana Jones!”

 

His eyes sparkled as he seemed to lose himself in another movie that played in his mind. He didn’t see the head slap coming.

 

“Dorset’s team transporting everything to Abby.” Kate added, while still snickering at DiNozzo’s expression.

 

“Find out how Larsen got hold of them. I’m going to Autopsy.”

 

He allowed his thoughts to drift after the elevator’s door had closed. He had suspected that something supernatural was involved in their case, when he had stepped into the warehouse. The hum that filled the air nearly made him back out of the building. His problem was with his two very human, unsuspecting agents. Usually, he prefered paring one human with one supernatural, but this time he didn’t think he should. Maybe he wasn’t paying enough attention. However, as it turned out it had been the right decision. Larsen and his thugs had attacked so fast, that no human could have kept up with them. Not even Kate had managed. Although, she was a zombie, she wasn’t necessarily fast. But thanks to his abilities, three had been dead even before Kate had hit the ground. However, it was enough distraction for Larsen to slip out. All Gibbs had managed to catch was part of the license plate.

 

At least Tony had been fast enough to catch a perp. A very supernatural perp, he added darkly. He’d need to pay more attention to his SFA. One day Tony might just try to catch something less scarred thing like this rat. Because that was what Fletcher was. A ratman. The awful smell had nearly driven Gibbs out of interrogation. And the fucking thing dared to lawyer up. Fletcher had more nerve than an average rat. Gibbs’ gut didn’t like it.

 

The elevator stopped. As soon as he stepped into Autopsy, Palmer all but teleported out of the place. Gibbs glanced after the retreating form. Sometimes he had the urge to pour a bucket of water onto the guy, just to see what would happen. Gremlins are rare creatures.

 

“I don’t have lots of things to tell you, Jethro.” Ducky spoke. He was standing over one of the corpses and he was holding something that looked like a liver. Or spleen.

 

“What can you tell me?” he asked back.

 

“That this fellow should have cut back on his booze intake.” the ME shook his head with disapproval. “By the way, Jethro, Abigail have certainly found out who these… people are.”

 

Gibbs watched Ducky’s face and he asked slowly. “All of them rats?”

 

The ME chuckled. “Poor Anthony, if he knew…”

 

“Yeah, Duck.” Gibbs agreed. Everybody knew of Tony’s dislike towards rats in general. The irony. “McGee knows.”

 

That truly surprised the old spirit. “You mean, Jethro, Timothy knows the _truth_?”

 

Gibbs nodded with a sigh. “Had to tell him. He saw Kate dieing. Couldn’t scramble his memories properly. He still in shock, I think.”

 

“So, it’s just Anthony now.” Gibbs couldn’t help but hear the the hope in his old friend’s voice.  

 

“Do I have to remind you what happened with Burley?” he hissed. “Without Abby’s spell we would be in serious trouble, Ducky!”

 

“Do not compare Stanley with Anthony!” Ducky scolded him, just like every time that argument occurred between them. “Why do you have more faith in Timothy?”

 

“It’s not about faith! It’s about keeping my best agent safe!” he shot back.

 

“Than reconsider.” Ducky asked and turned away.

 

It was Gibbs’ clue, that he was dismissed. He stared at the back of his friend for a few more seconds, then he walked away. He found refuge in the elevator after flipping the emergency switch. Why didn’t the others understand? Kate was allowed to have her doubts. She hadn’t been there. But the others. Abby and Ducky. They had seen what finding out about the truth had done to Stan. The fallout had been unforgettable. Morrow had promised to have his head in a jar surrounded by garlic if something like that happened again.

 

He wasn’t even sure that sharing the truth with McGee, a dreamer and fantasy fan, was a good idea. Than how could he even consider telling it to Tony? Tony who was different. Who gave him that strange sense with which he could do anything? Because there was nothing behind it. 

 

***

Abby came up to the bullpen and took over Tony’s desk. The SFA allowed it, because she brought information. And she was drinking her third Caf-Pow in the last two hours, which made her very-very dangerous. Tim had his own suspicion, that her presence had more to do with the elephant in the room, than with their case, but maybe it was just him.

 

“Abby! What ya got for me?”

 

The four of them turned sharply towards the source of the voice. Gibbs stared back at Abby expectantly and the young woman jumped to her feet enthusiastically.

 

“Names! I’ve got names! Three actually. Trey Bradshaw, Jamari Dodson and  Isaac Roberts! All three of them are enjoying Ducky’s hospitality!” she jabbered the words so fast that it made Tim’s head swim.

 

“What do we know about them?”

 

It was Tim’s turn. “They have very similar backgrounds to Fletcher. The only thing that doesn’t add up that there is no virtual connection to them. Grew up in four different cities, Dodson is actually from Europe. He moved here ten years ago. There is no connection between their home addresses, the schools they went to, their workplaces. Nothing. According to this,” he waved at his computer, “They shouldn’t know each other. I still have several programs running, but they would take a while.”

 

“I’ve asked few people I know. Waiting for them to call back.” Tony added.

 

“Abby, the weapons from the warehouse?” Gibbs asked after a couple of seconds of silence.

 

“They are still on their way!” Abby jumped a few times. Impressive task in her platform shoes. “I can’t wait to get my hands on them! I’ll be up aaaaall night!”

 

Gibbs turned to his agents. “You go home. I want every one of you in here 0700 sharp!” ‘Or when the program finds something, or Abby finds something’ wasn’t said out loud, but they all knew it was there. Abby wrapped her hands around Gibbs arm. She continued to babble away enthusiastically about the daggers and swords she would examine as Gibbs gently led her towards the elevator.

 

“I can’t believe we are allowed to go home.” Tim said with awe as he pulled his backpack out.

 

“There is basically nothing we can do now.” Tony explained. “ Fletcher’s lawyer won’t arrive till the morning and the perp won’t talk without him. We keep an eye out for Larsen, but till the call comes in, we can’t do anything. Your programs are still running, my contacts are still doing their magic, Abby needs time to do her magic. Dear McWorkcholic, what more do you want to do?”

 

“Something with your vocal cords.” Tim mumbled under his nose.

 

“What?” Tony asked.

 

“What?” he blinked innocently.

 

“Don’t you two have more important things to do, than arguing? Maybe sleep?” Kate huffed as she walked past them. The men caught up with her before the elevator door could close on them. Enjoying that his companions were trapped with him for a few moments, Tony launched into a never ending explanation of one of his favorite movies. When the doors opened, Tim all but ran to his car. Tony’s mischievous laugh followed him to the vehicle.  He just put his key into ignition, when there was a knock on his window. He turned slowly, fearing that the long legged SFA had just caught up with him. He was lucky. It was Kate. He rolled down his window.

 

“I need a ride.” Kate’s face told its own tale. They were going to talk.

 

“Jump in.” Tim nodded.

 

She walked around the car and few minutes later they rolled away from the Navy Yard.

 

“It’s must be a lot to take in.” Kate started.

 

“It is.” Tim agreed. He kept his eyes strictly on the road. “I don’t think I actually understand everything.”

 

“You won’t. Not right away, maybe not ever.” he saw her nod in his peripheral field of vision. “The only thing we truly hope, that you won’t be scared of us.”

 

He heard something in her voice. Was that insecurity? He stopped at a red light and turned towards her.

 

“I’m not scared!” he said steadily.

 

Her eyes were kind as she looked back at him. A sad smile formed on her lips. “You are still in shock. You haven’t seen us in our true form. Our true nature. Our dark side, as how Tony would explain it.” she chuckled. “Our instincts are stronger. Sometimes few of us lose control.”

 

Someone honked behind them and Tim noticed that the light turned green. He quickly turned his attention back to the traffic. Kate allowed him to process the information he had been given. None of them spoke till he parked his car in front of Kate’s apartment complex. She didn’t get out immediately. She reached into her bag and pulled out two things.

 

“This is the Codex of the Beasts. Read it. This explains everything that you need to know.”

 

“Wow! This is. Thick.” Tim held the big book in his hands. He looked back at Kate curiously. “You had been keeping this with you?”

 

“Of course not! We work with Tony! It’s Abby’s. Just like this.” she handed him something. “This is a talisman. Abby made it for you. It will protect you.”

 

Tim stared at the talisman for a long moment. His finger traced the beautiful carvings.

 

“You don’t like it? It really works. I have mine too!” she shoved him a similar, but still different talisman, she had kept in her pocket.

 

“It’s not that. I love it.” Tim replied.

 

“Than what’s wrong?” Kate looked totally confused.

 

“Gibbs has one? Ducky? Jimmy?” Tim asked.

 

“They do.” Kate nodded. Realisation started to form in her dark eyes, but he still said it out loud.

 

“Tony doesn’t.”

 

Kate looked down onto her lap. “It’s Gibbs’ decision to make. Not ours.”

 

“Why don’t we tell him? Then Gibbs would know that Tony wouldn’t leave us. I’m sure he would accept you. Just like me.” Tim pressed.

 

“It doesn’t work that way, Tim” Kate shook her head. “Thank you for the ride.”

 

She opened the car door and got out. She took a step, then turned back. Tim rolled down the window and she leaned in.

 

“I don’t know if it helps, but Abby has sown a talisman into Tony’s bag.”

 

Tim laughed.

 

“Of course she did!”

 

***

 

The hunter jumped off the balcony. It zigzagged between the dustbins and other trash that was thrown onto the ground by humans. It sniffed the air. The prey was close. It bared its teeth. The need to hunt was so strong that it drove any human thoughts out of its mind. Its claws scratched the ground as it lunged forward again. It jumped out of the alley and came face to face with its prey.

 

The prey’s eyes widened and the air filled with the smell of fear. The hunter roared with delight as the prey started running. It even gave it a head start, then it lunged. It took disappointingly small amount of energy to catch up.

 

No one heard the scream of the prey.   


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim's life gets a lot more complicated as he enters deeper into his teammates' world.

_The hurricane knows, step aside, demands control_   
_(Stay Alive- Hidden Citizens)_

 

His bare feet didn’t make a sound as he walked around the house. It was zero three hundred hours and soon he could go to work without needing to answer awkward questions about his sleeping habits. He snorted. Humans and their stupid worries. Vampires didn’t need sleep. Of course, they could sleep, but they didn't have to and he had more important things to do, like rechecking the information they had gathered during the day.  Not that he had found anything new. His mind was way too occupied with the fact that Tim had finally found out their little secret.

 

"That's what you get, Gunny, for not paying attention," he muttered to himself as he entered his kitchen. He started his coffeemaker, then pulled tiny blood icecubes out of the freezer. He placed two into his mug. A few minutes later his killer coffee was ready and he had only one ingredient to add. The thing that even the stupidest novels got right about vampires. Their issues with the Sun. He was really lucky that he had met Abby. She had made his life a lot easier. He got the vial out of his secret drawer and added the bluish colored liquid to his coffee. His very own inner sunscreen lotion. He had drunk enough of this potion through the years that it had accumulated in his body. So, it was no longer issue if he had to skip a day or two.

 

He sipped the mixture contently. This is how you start your day properly!

 

His thoughts wandered back to the Big Revelation. It was not the old rules that made him so uneasy. Nowadays, humans were much more open-minded than before, therefore the rules had softened too. There were several cases where humans were allowed to enter their world. With conditions, of course. Tim’s case fell into that category. So, it was not that.

 

First of all, he couldn’t allow himself to forget what had happened with Burley. Let’s just say that his old partner wasn’t open-minded. Gibbs had never been so close to exposure like that time. Only Morrow’s quick thinking had saved them. Forgive him, if he is cautious.

 

And the other thing? If you enter their world, there is no escaping. And their is a very dangerous world. Humans are fragile and die easily. He wasn’t even sure how they had ended up being the dominant race on Earth. Humans were considered prey by several species. Gibbs was strong and feared, but he was not sure that it was enough to protect not just one, but two humans. And he arrived at his main problem. The second human of their group. (Or the first, considering that he is the senior of the two.) Because the case was a lot more complicated with DiNozzo. He remembered Tim’s question the other day. He had asked what Tony was like he hadn’t even considered that Tony could be human. Gibbs had made the same mistake when he had met the young man in Baltimore. He had been so sure, that DiNozzo was _something_! His quick reflexes, physical abilities, his unique way of thinking all suggested this. However, there was nothing. Tony had no trace in their world.  Gibbs had checked several times. Ducky suggested a dormant gene in the younger man. Somewhere in his family tree, there could have been a distant relative of their world. Gibbs had wanted to find it. Selfishly he searched and searched, but he couldn’t find anything. He had to accept the truth. If there was a dormant gene, it was so weak against the _human_ , that it couldn’t be wakened. However, the gist was that Tony was unique and it made their world even more dangerous for him. That was what Ducky, Abby, and Kate couldn’t understand. But luckily, Tony had become _his_ responsibility, when Gibbs had taken him under his wings and he would make sure that he stays out of their world. End of story.        

 

The silence of his kitchen was broken by his cell’s ringing.

 

He glared at the device, but lacking the soul for caring, it ignored his annoyance. Grumpily he picked up the phone and stared at the caller ID. DiNozzo. Perking up he answered quickly.

 

"Gibbs."

 

"Hey, Boss! One of my buddies from the local police has called. They have found Larsen. He has a date with Ducky today!"

 

Gibbs didn't reply. He waited patiently for his SFA and soon...

 

"I mean he is dead," Tony added. His pout could be heard even on the phone. He basically heard the mental 'You are no fun, Boss'. Then DiNozzo had given him the address and a promise to get hold of the rest of the team.

 

After ending the call Gibbs had gulped down his morning elixir and filled up his cup with simple black coffee again. It was not the lead he had hoped for and his gut added its own bad anticipations into the mix.

 

***

Tim woke to the ringing of his phone. He blinked his eyes open and as his sight cleared up, he couldn't help but stare at the book that lay open in his bed next to him. It was the Codex of the Beasts. He sat up slowly, not taking his eyes off it. So, it was all true and real. It was not a dream. The supernatural was real. He touched the book gently and turned one of the pages. He had read up on his teammates, then he had started from the front. He wouldn't have thought that there were so many supernatural creatures, which name started with 'a'.

 

His phone stopped ringing and the sudden lack of shrieking noise brought him out of his dazed state. With a curse, he lunged for the device and dialed the last caller's number.

 

"Hey! Sleepyhead! I was about to turn around and fetch you personally!" Tony had picked up after the first ring.

 

"I'm up! What's going on?" Tim jumped off his bed. He really didn't want Tony to haul him out of his apartment. He snatched clothes out of his closet and put them on with one hand.

 

"Larsen had been found." Tony continued and told him everything he knew. After receiving the address, he promised to rush to the scene as fast as he could. Tony ended the call and Tim threw the phone onto his bed. He pulled his right lower limb out of the one leg of his pants in which he managed to shove two of his. He fell onto his bed with a huff, then quickly buttoned up his shirt. He got up and grabbed his service weapon and badge, but after few steps towards the door, he froze. He slowly backpedaled and stopped next to his nightstand. Abby's talisman rested here next to his lamp. The small object looked a little affronted, but maybe it was his imagination. He quickly snatched it up and hid it in his pocket. He felt warmer as he grabbed his gear and rushed out of the room.

 

***

Not surprisingly Tony was the first to arrive at the scene. He stepped out of his car and froze. His oversensitive nostrils were filled with the smell of winter, blood, and rat. He allowed himself few seconds to adjust. His olfactory receptors didn't tire out as fast as a human's.

 

"DiNozzo!" he heard a female voice call out to him and he quickly straightened his posture. Back to the game, Anthony!

 

"Detective Cherry!" he grinned widely at the woman who was approaching him in her high heeled boots. She looked kinda green, not like that one night they spent messing around back then.

 

"Got your perp." she motioned behind her. "In pieces," she added. One of her men suddenly ran past them. They didn't need supernatural hearing to hear him throw up behind a trashcan. Tony nearly joined him, when the smell of vomit was added to the horrible mixture that still assaulted his tender nose.  

 

"I'm so lucky." He said with a grimace. Cherry laughed a little, but even her pretty features were distorted with disgust.

 

"Well, I won't fight for this one." she shrugged. "I'll have our reports at the Navy Yard as fast as possible.

 

Tony had to promise her that he'd keep his grizzly boss away from her men, then she took off in a barely disguised hurry.

 

"Lucky me," Tony repeated under his nose, then armed with his gear and a pair of gloves, he approached the scene. The body lay just inside an alley. It had been spotted by a patrolling police car’s occupants. First, they had thought that a homeless man had passed out there, but it had quickly turned out that no body belonged to the leg that they had seen. Tony looked into the alley. The torso was further inside, but he couldn’t see the head. Watching where he was stepping he eased further inside and … there. He recognized Larsen’s face of the photos that his chief had provided of him. Though, the horrified expression was something new.

 

Tony looked around carefully, but the local officers kept their distance. He crouched down next to the head and carefully sniffed it. He smelled the blood and the characteristic smell of the rats and something else. His eyes snapped open and a growl rumbled deep in his chest. He was basically seeing red.

 

Someone has entered his territory! Hunted here!

 

A _shifter_!

 

The growl became stronger just like the reddish tint to his vision. A sudden pain in his left wrist brought him back to the present. He blinked and his vision went back to normal, just like his way too big teeth. He looked around quickly, but thankfully he was still alone in the alley. He took a shuddering breath and brushed his fingers against his watch with mute gratitude.

 

“Damn it, Anthony! You nearly lost control!” he hissed to himself. He had to be more careful. There was too much at stake for him to just let go.  

 

But still. The killer was a shifter. Rampaging in _his_ territory! He suddenly grinned. His own hunt had just started. He sniffed the air again and made sure to catalog the smell away.

 

“DiNozzo! What do we have?”

 

“A very hinkily dead marine, Boss!” he replied without missing a beat. He glanced at the other man. Gibbs looked occupied by the horrible scene and was probably not listening to his heartbeat. Still, better safe, than sorry.

 

“Do you think we should call animal control?” he asked testily.

 

Gibbs turned his head towards him, blue eyes narrowing. 

 

“What makes you ask that?” The Team Lead wanted to know.

 

Tony waved at the corpse theatrically. “Well, I don’t have lots of experience with animals, but this looks like a grizzly bear on loose. I know of plenty of movies that can back up this theory. For example ---”

 

The expected head slap came and he made a show of rubbing the back of his head with a pout.

 

“There is a camera hanging from your neck,” Gibbs growled. “Use it!”

 

“On it, Boss!” he chirped and hurried away.

 

Kate arrived next. Her smell of death had actually calmed down Tony’s frayed nerves. He really didn’t want to think about what that actually meant. He decided to just enjoy her reactions to the scene. First, she went deadly pale, then she turned an interesting shade of green. However, she managed to soldier on and soon was bagging and tagging everything that could be moved.

 

Tim had joined the party at the same time as Ducky and Palmer. Poor Probie nearly fainted at the sight. Tony could smell his relief even from the other end of the crime scene when Gibbs had ordered him to help Kate. Few minutes later he joined Tony.

 

“This is horrible!” he said as he pulled his gloves on. “What do you think? What happened?”

 

With his babbling teammate right next to him, Tony couldn’t concentrate well enough to listen in on Gibbs’ and Ducky’s silent discussion, so he gave up. Not that he needed confirmation on the species of the killer. He decided that teasing their tiny human was fun enough.

 

“Well, I have some ideas! Have you seen Cujo? Or the Man’s best friend? Oooooor the Grizzly? Even better! The Edge?”

 

Tim stared back at him with a blank expression.

 

“You have a problem,” he deadpanned finally. Tony grinned back brightly. Poor Probie didn’t even realize that their interaction managed to calm down the kid’s nerves enough for him to start working. Which he did still mumbling under his nose about Tony’s so-called problem.

 

“You don’t even know.” Tony mouthed with a sardonic grin as he turned away. He started taking photographs. He tried to bury himself in his work. The smell of the other shifter followed him around and the wilder part of him wanted to start his hunt immediately. He couldn’t afford to do that! Control above everything! He admonished himself.

 

“Damn it!” he heard from behind his back. A new smell entered the mixture. Tony froze after the first sniff. Blood! He spun around. Tim stood a step or two away from him and cradled his right hand. His gloves had been torn and blood dripped onto the ground. Tony all but ripped off his own jacket and wrapped it around his teammate’s bleeding hand.

 

“Goddamnit, Tim!” he snarled.

 

“What?” the young man blinked with wide eyes. “I just didn’t notice that glass there…”

 

“You are contaminating the crime scene!” And you are leaving your scent here. He added mentally. This was not good. So not good!

 

“What’s going on here?” Gibbs stormed towards them. Tim jumped a little and nearly hid behind the SFA.

 

“I cut myself on a glass…” he mumbled quietly.

 

As expected, Gibbs went ballistic. This time Tony didn’t feel the need to shield his probie from the storm. Gibbs was the smaller predator here, after all. He left Tim at Gibbs mercy and stalked the perimeter of the crime scene. Shifters had the tendency to choose one hunting ground and stick with it. Leaving blood here? The worst thing that could happen.

 

He had to retake his territory, end of story.

 

By the time he got back to the others, Larsen’s body had been loaded into the van and Tim was ordered to go back with Ducky to the Navy Yard to get his fingers fixed and get some shots. Kate was squatting next to the glass that had been hidden in the mess and was writing a report of Tim’s accident. This time she wasn’t taking Tim’s side openly. Maybe she knew what was at stake here.

 

Then Gibbs’ phone rang.

 

***

Gibbs gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his fingers turned white. Just like Tony’s face next to him as he sped through DC’s traffic. He ignored it. After one stupid incident had come the next. The call was from Morrow. Their other suspect was dead.

 

Killed in the fucking NCIS’s holding cell! How was that even possible? He couldn’t even put it into words how bad their situation was.

 

He parked their car carelessly and jumped out of it. Tony and Kate followed him shakily. At least they were wise enough not to comment on his way of traveling this time. He barely had enough patience to get through the protocol of entering, but somehow the three of them ended up in front of the right cell in one piece.

 

Morrow, a team of investigators, and two guards stood around the body. Their Director stepped in front of him when he spotted the Team Lead.

 

“Morrow?” Gibbs growled. “What’s going on?”

 

“Apparently, Jeffrey Fletcher was murdered during the night,” Morrow told him.

 

“How? This is one of the most secure facilities!” Gibbs tried to step around the man, but Morrow followed his movements and blocked him.

 

“What?”

 

“Unfortunately, Fletcher’s lawyer found about it too. Things are going to be complicated.” The Director said with a grimace.

 

“You mean IA?”

 

“Exactly.”

 

“You gotta be kidding me!”

 

“I’m afraid I’m not. I also have to ask you take a leave till this is solved.” Morrow glanced back at the people who were working behind them.

 

“Are you suspending me?” Gibbs growled. He was actually starting seeing red. It was either stroke or a hell of a furry building. 

 

“I think I mentioned a leave.” Morrow looked up at Tony and Kate. “For you all, I mean.”

 

Tony took a deep breath in through his nose than let it out slowly. For a few second he had _that_ face on, the one which said that he got something, an idea maybe. Gibbs urged him mutely, to turn their situation around, but the moment passed and Tony remained quiet. Not Kate though. She ended up in an argument with Morrow. It didn’t last long though. The Director ended it with a promise of a real suspension.

 

“What now?” Kate asked as they were escorted out.

 

“Go home and think. Call me with ideas.” Gibbs ordered.

 

“We have nothing to go on.” Kate complained. “And no means of getting more.”

 

“Well, think!” Gibbs growled.

 

Kate gave up visibly.

 

“Ruling us out as suspects will take only a day or two.” Tony tried to reason. “After that, we’ll get the case back and solve it.”

 

“A day or two which we can’t afford to lose, DiNozzo!”

 

Tony just shrugged half-heartedly. “Not that we didn’t solve cold cases before.”

 

Gibbs shot him an icy glare and the SFA held up his hands placatingly.

 

“I’ll fetch McGee.”

 

***

“I’ve never seen Gibbs so angry.” Tim commented quietly. “I mean it was a mistake. A stupid one, but just a mistake.”

 

He was sitting on one of the autopsy tables while Ducky was wrapping a gauze around his finger. He actually needed two stitches and three shots.

 

“You have to understand him, Timothy,” Ducky said gently. “You left your blood in a shifter’s territory.”

 

Tim snapped his head up. “Shifter? What’s a shifter?”

 

“Werewolf!” Palmer supplied cheerfully from the other side of the room.

 

Ducky rolled his eyes with exasperation. “Calling a shifter a werewolf is a very disrespectful thing to do, Mr. Palmer!”

 

“Why?” Tim blinked.

 

“It’s true, that all those years ago that certain individual, who won that name had the traits of a wolf,” Ducky said as he checked the bandage one last time. He found it secure enough. “However, not all shifters are wolves. Their personal traits manifest in a form of a certain animal when they shift. I’ve seen several truly majestic ones through the years. Too bad they are so rare.”

 

“Rarer than Gremlins!” Jimmy chirped.

 

“That’s true.” Ducky nodded, then turned back to Tim. “And you, young man, left blood on a shifter’s hunting ground. Not wise.”

 

“Hunting ground?” Tim frowned. “Are they all predators?”

 

“Not all of them.” Ducky shook his head. “After all, not every individual has the nature of a predator. However, I can safely assume, that this one _is_ a predator. You have to be more careful, Timothy.”

 

“I’m sorry.” Tim slumped a little. “But what will we do about it? I don’t think we can just arrest a shifter.”

 

“No, we can’t. But this is Jethro’s line of work, not mine.” Ducky smiled. The sound of Autopsy’s door’s opening forced them into silence.

 

“McHurt!” Tony’s voice filled the room even before they could spot the man. “We are on forced leave!”

 

“We are suspended?” Tim gaped as Tony strode in. “Why?”

 

Tony frowned at him. “I’m pretty sure I said forced leave. Let’s just stay with that.”

 

“But…” However, the SFA shushed him.

 

“Jeffrey Fletcher was murdered during the night.”

 

“What?”

 

Tony shrugged. “That’s all I know. The lawyer got involved, IA got involved. We got uninvolved.”

 

“But…. how?”

 

“Dear McBrokenrecord! I don’t know. Now, I’m catching a taxi back to the crime scene, because my car’s there. You coming?”

 

“Oh, damn. Mine too.” Tim groaned. He waved his bandaged hand at Ducky. “I can drive with that right?”

 

“Of course, Timothy. But don’t forget to take the antibiotics every day.” the ME warned him.

 

“I won’t!”

 

They walked out of the building side by side after grabbing few things from their desks. Tony was uncharacteristically quiet, which didn’t help the uneasiness Tim felt.

 

“I can’t believe they sus--- made us take a forced leave. They can’t possibly think that it has anything to do with us!” he babbled.

 

“It’s a lot more complicated than that, Tim. They have to rule not just us out, but any kind of NCIS involvement. Mistakes, broken protocols, things like that. You know it’s not just us. There are for example the guards too. The only way we can help speed this up is by cooperating.”

 

“I bet Gibbs doesn’t like that,” Tim smirked.

 

“Of course, he doesn’t. But he is not above the rules, doesn’t matter what he thinks.” Tony explained while he tried to wave down a taxi. “However, you could do something.”

 

Tim perked up. “Yeah? What?”  

 

“Can you find a link between Fletcher and Jacob Gallagher without leaving a trace? From home?” the SFA asked. Finally, a taxi stopped for him.

 

“Of course, I can!”

 

“Than do it.” Tony nodded as he walked around the vehicle.

 

“Erm… Tony?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Who is Jacob Gallagher?”

 

“Where was your mind, yesterday McDreamy? Gallagher is Fletcher’s lawyer. A way too fancy lawyer for a rat like that.”

 

***

The day rushed by for Tim. After collecting his car, he got home. He did what Tony asked him to do. However, it took more waiting than clicking, so while his computer worked, he grabbed the Codex and looked up the shifters. There was a really long entry of them. He spent the rest of day with checking the search and reading up on shifters.

 

It was already dark outside when he finished reading and the program stopped. With no results. However, his fascination with the shifters grew significantly. They had such a complex abilities and society. It was a pity that they were almost extinct thanks to the Great War. Vampires against shifters. It must have been such an epic area. He could see in front of his inner eyes as an army of vampires faced an army of shifters. It was a book worthy scene. One he could never write.  

 

He closed the Codex, but the cover slammed against his bandaged finger.

 

“Damn.” he groaned. But the pain reminded him that he totally forgot to get the antibiotics Ducky had prescribed for him.  “Oh, damn again!”

 

However, his slight germaphobia had him get dressed again and soon he was driving through the darkened streets of the huge city. Of course, the only drugstore that was still open was possibly the furthest away from his home. At least they had what he needed and after paying the bored woman behind the counter, he rushed back to his car.

 

“Damn cold,” he mumbled as he turned the heat up, then he joined the late-night traffic of the city. He was still complaining to himself about the cold and yucky weather when after a turn, he entered a silent street.

 

“One day I’ll move!” he promised to himself. Sad thing that he only afforded to live in this part of the city. This sight, this bare, industrial part always depressed him.

 

He was ripped out of his musings when a black burr ran past the nose of the car. He yanked the wheel to the side, the tire jumped on the side of the road and the car slammed against something.

 

When he finally stopped, Tim just sat there, breathing heavily, staring forward.

 

“What to do now,” he mumbled to himself after a while. Outside the street was dark and quiet. Only a few streetlights were blinking further away. There was no sign of anything that could be big enough to match the blur that he thought he had seen. So, what now? In horror movies, the guy usually gets out and gets eaten by a mysterious creature. He really didn’t like that opinion. Or just reading the Codex got to his head? Well, the Codex tells the truth so… he goes with the horror movie theory and stays in the car, he decided. He tried to look around. He even turned around in his seat, but he couldn’t see anything.

 

He slumped back into his seat. Maybe he should call Gibbs. But if it turned out that it was just his mind playing tricks on him? That would be embarrassing. But he was so sure that something had jumped in front of his car! And he had been told repeatedly that he had left his blood on the hunting ground of a shifter. Being embarrassed is way better, than being dead, no?

 

He reached for his phone, but he froze when his eyes found movement in the rear-view mirror. The most terrifying creature he had ever seen. The thing was huge. It stood on four powerful legs. He couldn’t be sure, but it looked like it was covered in fur. But its head? It looked like a black skull of a bear with long canines. A strange growl rattled the windows of Tim’s car.

 

“Dear God!” Tim breath as the creature walked around the back of the car. It arrived at Tim’s side after two slow steps. Its claws scraped the asphalt. It lowered its head down till it could stare through the window. Right at Tim. Then the creature opened its mouth showing a long row of lethal teeth and it let out a terrifying scream. It should have been a roar, but the sound was high and screeching. Tim’s hands moved to his ears quickly and covered them against the sound.

 

Then Tim’s hand flew to the car key. Maybe his car till have it in it and it would move! The creature had none of it. A huge leg (paw??? sounds too cute) rose and the claws broke through the car window. Tim yelped (didn’t scream!) and crawled over to the passenger seat. The creature shrieked again, then bumped the car with its head. The whole car rocked.

 

Tim realized with a sinking feeling what the creature wanted.

 

Hunt.

 

It wanted him to run, so it could actually hunt. Tim’s heart hammered against his ribcage. It also hammered away his ability to think. The creature seemed to lose its patience. It lunged forward and sank its huge teeth into the door and the roof of the car. With a screeching sound, it moved the whole car. The huge claws found their way back to through the window and in the next second, the door was ripped off.

 

Tim scrambled for the other door’s handle. He would run. Maybe with a headstart---

 

A roar broke through the chaos around Tim. It was real roar this time. It reminded Tim of the T-rex’s roar from the Jurassic Park movies. It was so loud that Tim had to cover his ears again. The creature stepped away from the car and looked up. By the angle, it seemed to look up at the building next to them. It shrieked back at the new arriver. It sounded like a challenge. Something jumped onto the roof of the car. It couldn’t be as big as the roar indicated because it barely dented the roof. The creature took a few steps back and shrieked again. This time the answering roar was so loud, that Tim was sure that he lost his hearing. He only noticed that the creature had a tail when it tucked it between his legs, then it turned and ran.

 

So much for the challenge…

 

There was another sound, the new arriver probably jumped off the roof of the car. Metal rattled above him. It probably jumped onto one of the balconies. Tim scrambled out of the wreck and stared up at the building. In the dark, all he could see was an outline. It was the outline of a human.

 

“Hey!” he called out.  Maybe he was in shock or something.

 

The other creature (human?) turned back. He couldn’t see the face. But the eyes… they were a strange mixture of red and gold. A captivating color. Their stare off lasted a moment only. Then the human-creature turned and jumped onto the roof. In the next second, it was gone.

 

Shaking, he got back into the wreck and pulled out his cell. It was truly time to call Gibbs.

 

“What’s the idea, McGee?” Gibbs growled as soon as he picked it up.

 

“I ran into the shifter and I think there is another one.” he sounded shaken and small, he knew that.

 

“Where are you?”

 

Tim gave him the address and Gibbs ended the call. He spent the time by glancing around nervously. What if the creature came back?

 

However, he didn’t have to wait long. In no more than two minutes, Gibbs stopped in front of him. Tim yelped when he ripped open the passenger side’s door and leaned in with glowing blue eyes.

 

“Get out!”

 

Tim scrambled to follow his order. He barely got out of the wreck, when Gibbs grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder.

 

“Wha—“

 

“Close your eyes and hold your neck!” Gibbs instructed him.

 

“What?” Tim gapped at the asphalt.

 

Then Gibbs moved and he understood. The vampire moved so fast that their surroundings blurred. Tim shut his eyes close tightly, but despite that, the moment Gibbs stopped and he was allowed back on his staggering feet, he threw up. When he stopped he was grabbed again, but thankfully he was allowed to stay on his shaky feet. He was dragged into a house, then pushed down onto a couch after a few steps. He leaned forward and buried his face in his palms.

 

“Drink that!” he was instructed again. A glass of water was pushed into his hand when he looked up. Gibbs paced up and down in front of him. He was calling everyone, checking on them. He even called Tony.

 

“Did you have to do that?” he croaked after a few careful sips when Gibbs finally put his cell away. The Team Lead knew what he meant.  

 

“We had to get out of there quickly. I don't want to meet with one of these without being prepared,” Gibbs shrugged. “Now tell me everything!”

 

“Wait for me, please, Jethro!” Ducky walked in from the kitchen.

 

“Ducky? How did you get here?” Tim gaped at him.

 

The old ME chuckled. “You know, Timothy, owl spirits have their unique way of transportation. Now, do tell us what happened!”

 

Tim told them everything he remembered. Ducky and Gibbs had lots of question. They wanted to know every little detail. Even those that Tim didn’t find important. The short encounter turned into an hour long story. Kate arrived in the middle of it.

 

“Two shifters!” Ducky exclaimed. “How wonderful! An encounter like that hasn’t been documented since the 1980’s!”

 

“Wonderful?” Gibbs spat. “This is not wonderful! This is horrible! All of them should be extinct!”

 

“Now, Jethro! What a horrible thing to say!” Ducky admonished him. “Don’t let your vampire instincts rule your opinion.”

 

“Why do vampires and shifters hate each other so much?” Tim asked.

 

“They basically live to kill us!” Gibbs growled.

 

Tim had read in the Codex, that shifters’ saliva was poisonous to vampires. One single, innocent bite could kill them. Gibbs kind of had a point.

 

“But their blood is your elixir,” Kate spoke up.

 

“Elixir?” Tim asked. The Codex hadn’t said a thing about that. Why?

 

“Yes. One single drop of a shifter's blood can make a vampire ten times stronger!” Ducky nodded. “There is a reason behind that and you know it, Jethro. Your dislike is coming from the Great War.”

 

“Well, they didn’t do anything that would change my opinion.” Gibbs crossed his arms. He considered the argument over.

 

“One of them saved Tim!” Kate chirped.

 

“We can’t know that. They are territorial.” Gibbs shrugged.

 

“A very interesting encounter.” Ducky mused. “Dear Timothy, I have to ask you to draw that shifter. Every little detail is important. The appearance of a shifter is the physical manifestation of their soul. Their personality traits are all on display.”

 

Tim shifted uneasily. “I’m not very good at drawing.”

 

“I am!” Kate grinned. She tucked her bag towards her and she pulled out a small sketchpad and a pencil. As she flipped through the pages, Tim could see several realistic drawings of people, animals, and supernatural creatures.

 

“Okay, “she nodded. “Tell me everything.”

 

***

It took one powerful jump and he grabbed the windowsill. He pulled himself up and the next second he stood in his dark room. He glanced out of the window wistfully. The thrill of the encounter filled him with that old, but familiar excitement. It had been such a long time…

 

Sighing he walked deeper into the room. He didn’t need the lights to see, where he was going. His bare feet didn’t make a sound. He reached for his watch that rested on the nightstand. When it clicked on his wrist, his senses dampened. Much better, he nodded to himself. The hunt was not worth the risk. Although, he glanced out of the window, he might need to discipline that shifter again.

 

He’ll see.

 

His cell rang. He reached for the tiny device but allowed himself a moment to prepare for the call. He answered it and deliberately yawned into the line.

 

“DiNozzo…”

 

“Woke ya up?” Gibbs huffed into the phone. “You home?”

 

“Yeah… Why?” he hummed. “Got a case?”

 

“We are suspended, DiNozzo.”

 

“Forced leave!”

 

“Whatever. Just checking you don’t do something stupid.”

 

He grinned. “What? Like, do some investigation or something? Isn’t that your kind of rebellious behavior?”

 

“Just stay at home and go back to sleep!” Gibbs growled, then he ended the call.

 

Tony threw the small device onto the bed. He knew that he was way too excited to sleep. Well, he could check on Jacob Gallagher on his own… And _he_ had a lead.

 

A smell.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IA starts its investigation, while someone stalks the team.

_The mountain won’t fall to its knees when the west wind blows_

_(Stay Alive - Hidden citizens)_

 

He should get dressed soon, he mused as he glanced at his watch. He was sitting on his plushy carpet with folded legs, while he rested his back against his couch. Whenever he was home, he changed into his favorite, but old sweater pants. Thanks to his origins, he preferred to wear as little clothes as possible. He really missed his own fur.

He put his laptop down and reached for his mug that had its little place on the coffee table. He drank the rest of the dark liquid and grimaced as it turned his otherwise empty stomach a little. Drinking coffee had become his way of keeping himself in the present and it was all Gibbs fault. The ever-present smell of coffee had become one of those things that calmed him down. He deliberately didn’t think about the fact that it was usually accompanied by the smell of a vampire. Before NCIS he had been a tea drinker. After all, he had spent the bigger part of his life in England, before he had decided to move into the States.

And now he wanted an English breakfast.

“Food…” he hummed.

He glanced at his watch again. His interview with IA would be at 1000. If he started moving immediately, he would have enough time for everything. With a groan, he turned and ended up on all fours. He pushed himself back and stretched every muscle in his body, his canine origins showing in every movement.  Then finally he got to his feet and patted into his kitchen on barefoot.

Bacon, sausages, and eggs. And tea. He drank enough coffee during the night that it’d last through the day. Or not. His metabolism was really fast.

He hummed quietly as he prepared his food. His thoughts wandered back to last day and night. Two suspects dead. Killed by two different people. Both of the victims were rats, Bleh! He hated that kind. But back to the track. He had one shifter in DC. One big, ugly shifter. He needed to think about the way how he planned to deal with him, without shifting fully himself. That was out of question. That problem was that the other shifter’s looks promised trouble. At least, he won its full attention and Tim would be safe for now. He would come up with something, he always does.

Problem number two, the thing with Fletcher. His case was unrelated to the other shifter. He was fairly sure that he could identify the killer by his smell, but first, he had to find suspects. The thing that bugged him was Jacob Gallagher’s involvement. He was a fancy lawyer and those services are not cheap. Fletcher had been a low-key criminal. And despite the common beliefs, just because someone does illegal things, it doesn’t mean that they are rich. Fletcher’s finances had backed up that theory. So, how in the hell did he afford to have such a fancy lawyer?

He had looked up Gallagher too. Thirty-eight years old, his appearance suggested an Asian in his family tree. He was considered a mastermind of criminal law. He was frequently asked to share his opinion on some cases in talk shows. This is how Tony knew of him. Fortunately, they hadn’t met before. That, of course, would change. Gallagher shared the spotlight of his attention along with the shifter.

He finished making his breakfast, then he sat on the counter.  He munched quietly as he stared ahead with a blank expression. First things first, he would have to get through the interview. Not something he looked forward to, but he also knew that he would deal. He had been dealing for a very long time. And maybe, if everything goes well, he would be back on the hunt tomorrow. He just really hoped that Gibbs’ temper wouldn’t screw this up.

***

Tim watched Gibbs’ morning routine with eyes so wide that they were comical to watch.

“Is that blood?” he stammered.

“Yes,” Gibbs said as he reached for Abby’s potion. He added that as well. He noted with amusement, that Tim didn’t dare to ask what _that_ was.  

“What a terrible shame that I wasn’t allowed to examine Mr. Fletcher’s body.” Ducky sighed. He was seated at the table in Gibbs’ kitchen with his self-made Earl Gray. The mention of their suspect’s demise ruined Gibbs’ barely good mode.

“Although,” Ducky continued, “Dr. Howard is an excellent choice.”

“And IA is a horrible one,” Gibbs growled. He tried to drown his annoyance into his coffee.

“Wait! IA!” Tim jumped to his feet with wide eyes. “I have an interview with them at 1030 and my car is… totaled. What’s going to happen with my car? It has… teeth holes in it!” he babbled with a horrified expression.

“I took care of it. I have a few connections.” Gibbs spoke up when the young agent’s panic started to turn into a full-blown panic attack.  

“Jethro… Did you tell your connections about the shifter?” Ducky frowned at him. Gibbs glared back. He couldn’t help his instincts concerning the shifters. He had his reasons. However, Ducky should know that he wouldn’t endanger an innocent as long that innocent stayed… you know… innocent.

“I didn’t,” he muttered. Ducky’s satisfied face pulled a growl out of him. “But one misstep and that shifter will face the same fate as ours. I only give one chance.”

“Of course, Jethro,” Ducky smirked. Gibbs turned to make another coffee for himself. That would be a very long day.

“Cab! I could get a cab! But wait, my insurance… how would that work? No, first the interview. A cab would be good.” Tim muttered to himself as he paced up and down between the two older men. Just watching him, although it was amusing, made Gibbs’ head spin. So, he concentrated on Ducky.

“What did you deduce of the shifter?”

“I’m afraid, nothing good.” Ducky shook his head. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded paper. He unfolded it revealing Kate’s sketch of the attacker. “That lad is a one really troubled soul. I still need time to properly immerse myself in his case, but my best guess is, there will be no negotiations with him.”

“Fine with me.”

Kate walked into the kitchen dressed in her clothes from yesterday. Her hair was still a mess and her dark eyes couldn’t be seen because she could barely lift her eyelids.

“I can’t believe you are already talking about the shifter,” she muttered. Gibbs slipped out of her way as she made a beeline for the coffeemaker. “It’s sooo early!”

“My dear, you are the strangest undead I have ever seen.” Ducky mused.

“Thanks!” Kate raised her mug, then she sipped it with an almost purr.

“By the way,” she spoke again after a while. She leaned a bit to the side and glanced through the doorway. “Someone should really do something about Tim. He looks really frantic.”

***

Luca had that, ‘Tony, what now?’ face on, when he entered the conference room. Tony suppressed his grin. He had known Luca Emerson before he had joined IA. Just like him, Luca had been a cop too. They had worked together in Philly a few times. Seeing him sitting at the opposite side of the desk eased Tony’s worries. Their case was in good and capable hands. They’d be okay.

They both wisely didn’t mention their connections to the recorder.

Rather, they went like:

“Special Agent DiNozzo!”

“Agent Emerson!”

“I have a few questions for you. It won’t last long.”

“Fire away!”

Luca wanted to know the details of Fletcher’s arrest, his interrogation and his transfer to NCIS’ holding facility. Tony told him everything in great detail. He knew he was most likely the only one who paid real attention to the procedure. It was deeply imprinted into his nature, he couldn’t help it. He had to know everything!

After that Luca wanted to know how he spent the night of the murder. At home. Yes, his apartment building has security cameras. Here, the number of his landlord. Any questions? No? Goodbye than!

The smell of a hellhound followed him out.

Tim nearly ran into him.

“I’m not late, am I?” the junior agent panted.

Tony steadied the young man and quickly looked him over. He looked nervous but otherwise okay. No harm was done.

“Breath, McWheezy!” He grinned. “Everything is fine!”

Tim nodded furiously and gulped in the air like someone drowning. Maybe he was. The poor kid needed more cardio in his life.

“Straighten your back!” Tony instructed. Tim followed his order quickly. His face looked a bit less red than before. “Head up! Deep breath in and out. Good. Now go!”

With a gentle show, he herded the kid towards the door of the conference room. He waited long enough for the door to close, then he made his way out of the building.

They got lucky he decided as he sat down on a bench. He took a deep breath and inhaled the smell of the crowd around him. His eyes fell closed and he breathed in again. So much life and… wait a fucking minute! He frowned and cocked his head to the side. He sniffed the air again. Gotta be kidding! His eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet. His unnaturally sharp eyes scanned the mass of people around him.

There.

Black, short hair was pulled back to reveal a lean face. Big, round hazel eyes, set appealingly within their sockets. They stared right back at him. Tony would have recognized the black uniform from anywhere. It was not the first time he had seen it, but the man was new. They stared at each other for a moment. Then the man took a step back and _shimmered_ out of sight.

Tony decided to rethink that comment about being lucky.

Those who see a Grim Reaper are not lucky.

“Oh, fuck me!” he hissed.

***

Abby chewed off her black nail polish and only realized it when tiny bits stuck to her tongue. Eww…  She quickly cleaned her tongue with a handkerchief. It didn’t clear away her worries.

Her whole lab was filled with wooden crates and all of them were full of ancient looking weapons. Okay, they were truly ancient, at least a big part of them. However, what worried her so much was the fact that they were all from _their_ world. However, other than that there was nothing that connected them. Every one of them was unique somehow. And each of them was specially made to kill a certain type of supernatural creature. Stakes for vampires paired with wooden bullets, silver athames for shifters, witch binders, spirit traps and the list went on.

Abby took a shuddering breath and tugged her ponytails uncomfortably. She didn’t like the ideas that pooled in her head and she really didn’t like these things in her lab. Her excitement had died down as soon as she had gone through the first crate.  

“Bad! Bad! Bad!” she mumbled to herself. But the worst thing was that she couldn’t rush to her silver vampire because some stupid idiot killed that stupid idiot and another stupid idiot thought that forcing her vampire on a leave was a good idea! Ha! Stupid idiots!

Third worst thing? Dominic Rogers’ team was on rotation and they were overseeing Larsen’s case, while Gibbs and the others weren’t there. Dominic Rogers was a human, who had nothing to do with their world. She couldn’t turn to them.

Coming to a decision, she phoned Morrow and told him that her babies were doing their things and there was nothing else she could do with their findings. She requested a day off considering that she had spent the last two in there. Day and night.

Once she got the green light from Morrow, she grabbed her purse and after a precise lockup, she headed for her silver vampire’s home.

***

When Gibbs stepped out of the conference room’s door he was more frustrated than ever. Emerson was alright, he admitted grudgingly, but he also planned to stall their investigation, till he finished his.

Gibbs didn’t take it well when he was stalled.

His team faced at least one more day of inactivity.

He stopped in the middle of the corridor and rubbed his face. At least that way he could concentrate on the two fucking shifters in his city. _Two_. Okay, he promised Ducky that he wouldn’t kill the second shifter, but he hadn’t promised not to investigate it. After all, shifters were territorial. Very territorial. He didn’t need them create a bloodbath here.

“You must be Agent Gibbs.”

He snapped up his head. A man stood in the middle of the corridor. He probably had Asian DNA mixed in him somewhere. However, he was way too tall for an average Asian. The eyes though, were what caught Gibbs’ attention. They were dark and calculating. The former Marine swore there was something even darker in there. He just couldn’t name it.

“And you are?” he asked back. He made sure that his face remained blank. His SFA wasn’t the only man who was good at undercover work.

“Jacob Gallagher.” The man smiled politely. “I am Jeffrey Fletcher’s lawyer.”

“Was.” Gibbs corrected him.

“I still protect his rights. He has the right to justice. It’s my job to make sure that his killer answers for his actions.” Gallagher spoke. He had a pretty good blank mask too.

“How noble of you.”

“It is my job, Agent Gibbs.”

With that, the man stepped around him. Gibbs watched him go. The elegant way of his movements reminded the vampire of something. He just couldn’t figure out what. However, the man didn’t have a trace in their world.

He hated lawyers…

***

Kate stared at her drawing. The shifter that had attacked Tim was the wrong kind of complex. She sighed. It had the head of a bear. That meant power and protection.  However, according to Tim, it looked more like a skull. Something was lost.

“Protect…” Kate whispered to herself. Maybe it lost something important? Someone important?

The size meant a strong personality.  Moreover, a predator.

However, the description of its body wasn’t one of a bear. Although Tim couldn’t see properly in the dark, he had said that it was long and not chubby like an average bear. What could it be? Kate huffed with frustration. It was not the first time she profiled a shifter. The other one had been so much easier. She would never forget that tiny, rabbit-like body lying in the grass. She would never forget the huge pool of blood around it either.

Shuddering a bit, she folded her sketch. She tried to warm herself up with the friendly interior of her favorite coffeehouse. Bad memories. She turned her head and looked out of the window. Analyzing the crowd would have been much easier than doing that with the monster-shifter. She watched women herding tiny terrors on the sidewalk, cars flashed by in the background, suited up men talked in their cells.

And a Grim Reaper stared at her from the other side of the street.

Kate blinked at the human looking not human. Then he shimmered out of sight. Kate took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. The thought crossed her mind. She lived long. Probably not as long as Gibbs and Ducky, but she was old. Her curse deprived her of another human being’s touch.

It was curious, how the idea of her name on a Grim Reaper’s lips didn’t sound so terrifying.

***

Tim tried to wave down a cab. He didn’t seem to have any luck though. He stepped back in frustration and he bumped into someone.

“Sorry!” he mumbled.

The man didn’t say anything, just walked away. Tim blinked after him.

“What a strange coat.”

***

His office had the perfect view of the Potomac. He enjoyed watching the dirty water running by. It was the perfect symbol of this trash orb humans called Earth.

There was a knock on his door, then it opened. He didn’t turn around. After a few steps, the arriver stopped.

“Rage killed Randy.”  came the accusing tone.

“He did,” he replied calmly.

“It was your order!”

“He screwed up.”

“You killed Jeffrey!” Again the accusing tone.

This time he did turn around. He glanced into the angry, but still scared blue eyes that were watching his every move. He smirked.

“He screwed up too.”

The small man in front of him looked angrier than ever. It was an amusing sight.

“You promised that we’d benefit from this. Five of my people is dead. Two died at the hands of you and your pet! Tell me, why should we continue to hold up our side of the agreement?” the man spat.

“Travis, Travis,” he said. He couldn’t mask his amusement. “I did tell you that I don’t tolerate mistakes.”

Travis opened his mouth again, but he was cut off as the door flew open. The tall, blond man stormed in and Travis jumped out of his way with a squeak.

“Will you replace my door, Rage?” he asked. He never raised his voice. He knew it unsettled people more than anything. He liked unsettling people.

“A shifter!” Rage spat. His blue eyes looked crazed and manic. He knew he had to be careful. He really didn’t want to deal with a raging shifter. Travis all but became one with the wall. Wise decision.

“Rage.” He spoke up. “You need to tell me your problems in words.”

The tall man, who was pacing the room spun towards him. A finger was pointed at him angrily. “You! You promised me this city! It should be mine! So, tell me, why is there a shifter?”

That startled him. Another shifter? He should know if there was another shifter.

“Tell me more!” he ordered and sat down in his chair. Rage restarted his pacing effectively trapping Travis into a corner.

“I saw him! I saw him! The Shifter! I saw him!” the crazed man repeated. He stopped abruptly and stared at him with wild eyes. “He didn’t even have to shift.”

“So, you know what he looks like. Tell me and I’ll take care of it,” he ordered. He was already reaching for his phone, but it was suddenly snatched out of his hand. It shattered into a million pieces above Travis’ head. The rat yelped and curled into himself. Pathetic.

“You will not do such a thing!” Rage spat. “He is mine!”

He raised an eyebrow. Dealing with shifters was annoying. They should be extinct…

“Just tell me what he looks like.”

“I don’t know.” Rage shook his head.

“But you said he didn’t shift.”

“I didn’t see his human form, nor did he shift. But he showed me himself. I saw _him_!” Rage stared ahead unblinking. He seemed to be lost in his mind as he spoke. “A shifter like that must be an Original!”

He shuddered when the shifter’s eyes focused on him suddenly.

“If I kill him, I’ll be stronger than ever!”

“Rage,” he spoke calmly and slowly. “I need you to lie low for a few days.”

“Are you out of your mind?! My shifter is out there! Hunt!” the blond man’s outraged voice turned into a mumble.

He leaned forward keeping his eyes focused on the shifter. Rage always had been unpredictable. Maybe he should have gotten a _trained_ shifter.

“Just think about it. Two shifters will surely catch the attention of someone. You don’t want vampires to take over your city, right?”

The blond man stopped and stared. It took a long minute, but he finally mumbled a soft no.

He smiled. “Than go and rest. You’ll need your energy if you want to face your shifter, right?”

Life came back into Rage’s eyes. His lips curled into an ugly, Grinch-like grin.

“Yes!”

The tall shifter turned on his heels his long coat flew through the air behind him dramatically. He kicked the remains of the door out of his way and its edge slammed into the bookcase next to the wall. Travis let out a whimper, but Rage ignored him. Then the shifter was gone.

He waited a bit knowing well how sharp shifters’ hearing was. When he decided it was safe, he turned his calculating eyes on Travis.

“Get the Horde on the phone.”

Travis’ eyes widened at him. He understood immediately what he was up to. Smart little rat.

He grinned.

“I have a shifter for them!”

***

Abby paced Gibbs’ living-room. Of course, the Bossman wasn’t home, when she needed him! She growled under her noise. She stopped for a second and grinned proudly. Wow! She almost sounded like Gibbs!

She started walking around again. Her overactive mind was coming up with so crazy ideas, that they overstepped the line even of Abby-normal. She needed Gibbs to force her mind into order.

She turned again and walked into the kitchen. She looked around while worrying her fingers. Coffee! Gibbs’ll need coffee! Not her of course! She had drunk so many Caf-pows that she lost count. She reached for the coffeemaker when something moved in her peripheral vision. She spun around and stared. That coat. She would recognize it anywhere. Every movable object started shaking around her.

The Grim Reaper stepped forward and started raising his hand.

“Witch!”

“Out!” she screamed at him. Her power distorted her voice. Knives, plates, and cups flew past her. She saw as the Reaper’s eyes widened and he staggered back. However, he couldn’t escape her.

The only thing she heard before she banished him was his startled shout.

She panted as she slowly sank to her knees in the middle of the mess that once been Gibbs’ kitchen. Her whole body was trembling.

He had said witch, it came to her mind. He hadn’t said her name.

She ran a shaky hand through her bangs. Maybe she overreacted a bit.

But she couldn’t allow Grim Reapers into Gibbs’ house!

“Abby!” Gibbs stood in the doorway staring at her, his wide eyes so blue that it sent shivers down her spine.

She took a deep breath.

“We need to talk.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Horde is on the move. Tony continues his hunt. Dark clouds are gathering.

_Should the lion say his grace_   
_When he takes his mark?_

( _Stay Alive - Hidden Citizens_ )

 

Gibbs swept the remains of his cheap plate set onto a garbage shovel. He expertly emptied it into his trash can. He slowly let out a long breath. Who would have thought that he'd arrive home to this? Abby sitting in the middle of this mess, shaking like a leaf, mumbling that they needed to talk before collapsing. He had gathered her up into his arms and rushed up to the bathroom with her. He had placed his precious witch into the shower and allowed lukewarm water to pour down on her, while he had started a bath for her. When drained, witches needed water. It had something to do with its cleanness and the need to be close to nature? Whatever. All he knew that water could keep her alive when she recklessly used up all her energy. She had started coming around in the shower but still needed help to get into the bath. She hadn't minded that she was still fully dressed. He had got her an old and very big shirt of his and when she had assured him that she'd be all right, he had come down there to clean his kitchen and mind.

 

His kitchen was getting cleaner, but his mind? Nope. Chaos everywhere.

 

“What happened here?”

 

Great. Despite his too many years, he didn't even notice in time that his SFA had waltzed into his house. Fortunately, only the broken parts of few plates and cups were still lying around. It was easier to explain that than the original huge mess.

 

"Abby had a little accident, while she tried to make some coffee," he said without looking up. "She didn't sleep for two days. At least. She is cleaning herself up, so behave!"

 

“Oh. Right.”

 

Gibbs looked up with a frown.  Tony sounded strange. The younger man (compared to him a toddler, really) wasn’t looking at him. Tony’s eyes flew around the kitchen. The expression on his face was odd. Gibbs concentrated all of his senses on the young man. However, despite his curious closeness with his SFA, he couldn’t read his mood properly.

 

“DiNozzo? What is it?” he asked as he straightened his posture a bit.

 

Tony’s eyes snapped towards him. The green orbs looked closed, though. A smile formed on the younger man’s face.

 

“Nothing, really. Just worried about Abby. She should take the human body’s need for sleep seriously.” Tony shrugged. “Do you need help with that?”

 

Gibbs watched him for a few more seconds, but he still couldn’t get anything off him, so he shrugged.

 

“I’ll deal. Did you come up with something?” At Tony’s raised eyebrow he rolled his eyes. “The case, DiNozzo!”

 

“I thought we are not allowed to investigate until we are cleared, “ Tony chirped with an innocent expression on his face.

 

Gibbs just glared at him. Soon, a megawatt grin brightened up the young man's features.

 

“Joking, Boss! There is something actually.” Tony said as he sat onto the counter. “I can’t get over the fact that Fletcher could afford a lawyer like Gallagher.”

 

Gibbs hummed his agreement.

 

“I’ve asked Tim to look into it _discreetly_ , but he hasn’t called me yet.” Tony continued.

 

Not a surprise. Between being attacked by a shifter and investigated by IA, the young human probably hadn’t got time to work the case _discreetly_ … Gibbs snarled at his trash can, keeping his back to the SFA. Damned IA and damned shifters!          

 

“Boss!... Oh… Tony!...”

 

The two men turned and stared at Tim, who stood in the kitchen doorway with a huge duffel bag in one hand and his laptop held securely against his chest. The young agent’s wide eyes flew from Tony to Gibbs and back again.

 

“Hey, Probie! Pajama party?” Tony asked gleefully. Tim’s wide eyes found their way back to him. He blinked three times.

 

“What?”

 

Tony pointed at the duffel bag. “That looks awfully like all of your personal possessions.” he chirped.

 

“I… I…” Tim stuttered. He all but hid the bag behind himself.

 

Gibbs really wanted to do a facepalm, but standing right next to the supposedly clueless SFA prevented him from doing that.

 

“The heating broke in McGee’s flat.” He forced out through his not-snarl. Tim jumped a little at his voice, then finally catching on, he nodded vigorously.

 

“Yes! Yes, it did!”

 

“You never mentioned that something was wrong with your flat!” Tony pouted.

 

Gibbs clenched his teeth. What McGee probably didn't realize, but he did was that Tony was investigating their situation. He was basically interrogating the young agent. And Tim was singing with his body language like their usual suspects on the other side of the table.

 

“It happened last night. McGee, did you find something on Gallagher?” Gibbs hissed. He ignored the strange look Tony sent him. Doesn’t matter how good of an investigator he is, he would never guess the real reason. Gibbs was sure of that.

 

“Gallagher? Gallagher!” Tim backed out of the kitchen. Tony jumped off the counter and stalked after him. Gibbs threw the rest of the ruined pieces into the trash can, then he joined the two young men in his living-room.

 

“I didn’t find anything on Gallagher,” he heard McGee say. The wave of frustration washed over Gibbs. He knew it wasn’t just his. His vampire senses were catching the whole rooms emotions.

 

“But,” McGee continued. “I finally found Fletcher’s flat.”

 

That got Gibbs' attention. It had frustrated him greatly after the arrest, that there had been no place listed as Fletcher's home. The rat had claimed that he was living with a friend. He also refused to name that said friend.

 

“What do we do with this?” Tim asked. “Shall I send it to … someone?”

 

Gibbs thought about their possibilities. He would have wanted to check the place out personally, of course. However, they were still on forced leave. Certainly, they could send the address to Emerson, who had a trace in their world. Not just a trace, Gibbs reminded himself with annoyance, but the trace of a hellhound. But… Still…

 

"You officially shouldn't be investigating. Sharing this with them now would only cause trouble," he said finally.

 

Tony frowned a bit, but in the end, chose not to say anything. Good. Gibbs nodded to himself.

 

“Bossman!” they heard Abby call out. “Hey, Tony! Tim!”

 

The three of them turned towards the source of the sound. Abby stood on the top of the staircase, dressed only in Gibbs' old shirt. Tony grinned up at the woman and gave her a thumb up. Then he reached out and put his hand on top of Tim's head. With an easy move, he turned the gapping agent's head away from the goth. The green eyes bore into Gibbs'.

 

“I know you have a rule about that, but I know someone, who could give us some insight on the real life of Jacob Gallagher.” he grinned.

 

Gibbs let out a long breath. “You plan to involve a lawyer.”

 

Tony shrugged, still grinning. “I need to know everything about that guy!”

 

The way the young agent seemed to actually vibrate with suppressed energy left no doubt that he really _needed_ to know.

 

“Fine!” Gibbs huffed. “But don’t forget that the rules are there for a reason!”

 

“On it, Boss!” Tony grinned once more, waved at Abby, then strode out of the house.

 

The Witch walked down the stairs and stared after the SFA.

 

“You know…” she started, but one look at her silver vampire shut her up.  She shrugged, then crossed her arms in front of herself. “What I originally wanted to tell you, was that Kate is picking up some clothes for me. Oh, and there are two more things.”

 

“The one is the explanation of what happened with my kitchen, right?” Gibbs asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

Abby smiled sheepishly and curled a black, still wet lock around her index finger. “About that… I may have overreacted a bit.”

 

“A bit?” Gibbs snorted. He walked around the blushing McGee and sat down onto the couch.

 

“There was a Grim Reaper in your house and when he tried to speak to me… Well, I banished him.” Abby mumbled the end of her sentence.

 

Gibbs nearly jumped up again. His whole body went rigid.

 

“Did he try to say your name?”

 

Abby shook her head vigorously. “No! No! Actually, he called me ‘Witch’…”

 

Gibbs forced his body to relax. However, he did pinch the bridge of his nose.

 

"Abby… You can't just banish a Grim Reaper. They don't like that and they are a real pain in the ass when they don't like something."

 

“I know! But I was so nervous about that weapon thingy and he just appeared in your house and I just… couldn’t let him stay… or speak…” Abby chewed on her nail. “It’ll be alright, right?”

 

Tim stalled Gibbs’ reassurance with a tentatively raised hand. “Can someone explain the Grim Reaper in this story?”

 

"Reapers are the higher-ups in our world. They are overlooking life and death. They are responsible for the balance on Earth. It was their decision to allow you, humans to rule. According to them other supernatural creatures, as you call us, would push the balance into chaos if allowed to rule." Abby explained hurriedly.

 

“And why were you so worried about him saying your name?” Tim asked back after cocking his head to the side.

 

"When a Reaper says your name, you die," Gibbs said curtly. He ignored Tim's shock as he got to his feet again. "I'm getting coffee. After that I want to know about that weapon business, you mentioned." when he stepped next to Abby, he gently tugged a lock of her black hair.

 

***

Tony sighed as he parked his car near the fancy coffeehouse Maia had chosen for their meeting. He cursed the wolf instincts that chased him to his ‘ _pack’_ , after his sighting of the Reaper.

 

“Very brave, Puppy!” he growled to himself as he locked his car.

 

He knew that an average wolf usually finds safety in its pack, but his case should be different. His pack was not a real pack. He was the only shifter, the only wolf. In addition, he spent most of his life as a lone wolf. He shouldn't even feel the need for a pack, not talking about appearing in his Boss' house without a buyable reason for it. His only luck was Tim's panic at the sight of him. It seemed like Gibbs decided to move their tiny human into his house. Good! The other shifter would never enter a vampire's house. That should make things much easier for him.

 

He stepped onto the terrace, but he couldn't spot Maia, yet. So, he chose a table, which allowed him to see the whole terrace and part of the street and the inside of the coffeehouse, and also gave a cover for his back. He chose to sit indoors because outside the snow started to fall gently.

 

A waitress, beautiful brunette in her early twenties walked up to him. She gave him a bright smile, which he mirrored immediately.

 

“What can I bring you?” she asked.

 

"Something sweet with lots of caffeine. You can surprise me!" he winked. The beautiful brunette blushed, then she hurried away. She also made sure to sway her hips more than necessary.

 

“Surprise!”

 

Tony nearly jumped out of his seat. Damn him! That’s what he gets for not paying attention.

 

“Maia!” he huffed.

 

Laughing, the tiny woman sat down in front of him. “You did say I can surprise you!” she grinned.

 

“I meant the waitress.” Tony pouted.

 

“Oooooh.” Maia made a very fake innocent expression. “My mistake! So? What is it, Casanova? I don’t think you just wanted to buy me the most expensive coffee on the menu here. Which you will do, by the way.”

 

Tony leaned forward, finally serious. “I need your help. I need information.”

 

The waitress came back with a huge glass of interestingly smelling liquid. The glass barely touched the table, but Maia already snatched it away.

 

"One more, please," he asked the waitress who wore an impressive shocked expression.

 

"You do need my help. Who would have thought?" Maia grinned. "So? Who won the race for your attention?"

 

“Jacob Gallagher.”

 

Maia, who had just sipped from the strange liquid through a straw choked suddenly. She spat out most of that sip onto the table. She cleared her throat and reached for a napkin. She cleaned the mess on the table slowly, while she tried to blink away the tears that appeared in her eyes.

 

"Have you lost your mind?" she croaked when the table was spotless. Her dark eyes searched his. "Gallagher is not someone with whom you'd want to mess with."

 

The waitress brought him the second glass. Maia didn't reach for that one. The brunette girl must have sensed the tension because she didn't stay to flirt this time. Tony leaned forward still holding Maia's eyes.

 

“Why? Please in great details.”

 

“You _are_ out of your mind!” she hissed. She leaned back in her chair and looked away. “Everything you hear here didn’t come from me.”

 

“Of course.” Tony nodded. He knew the drill.

 

“Gallagher is a genius.” Maia started. Her eyes found him again. “A true mastermind. He wins every case he gets, period. He knows the full criminal law from a to z.”

 

"I hoped for incriminating evidence, not a eulogy," he commented dryly.

 

Maia rolled her eyes. “I was still at the warning part.”

 

“Oh!”

 

"Exactly. Look, no one knows anything about Gallagher. He doesn't spend a long time in his office here and only those clients come there, which you usually see in TV. The scuttlebutt says he has another place on the outskirts."

 

“You have an address?” Tony’s skin prickled as the possibility for a hunt shimmered close to the surface.

 

Maia sighed with defeat. She pulled a napkin close to her and fished a pen out of her way too big bag. She started scribbling.

 

“I got hold of it by accident.”

 

Tony snorted loudly. Maia shot him a murderous look.

 

"Really. The mailman messed up and gave me a file of one of his cases. I saw the address on a post-it which was attached to it. I may have written it down and that's… Oh, stop it!"

 

Tony was openly laughing by that time. He knew that Maia would have been an amazing investigator. Sadly, she found the hell in the courtroom much more exciting than an actual crime scene.

 

“I had to take that file to Gallagher. That was the most terrifying experience of my whole life.” she huffed.

 

“Is he that scary?” Tony raised an eyebrow. He took the address from her and pocketed it quickly.

 

“No. Maybe.” Maia shrugged. “He is awfully polite most of the time. But there is the thing, he must be a bad guy. After all, I have a huge crush on him.”

 

Tony cocked his head to the side. “You used to have a huge crush on me too. Am I a bad guy?”

 

He received another eye-roll from the sassy girl. "My feminine side just acknowledged the fact that you are a hot male." she huffed. Then though she leaned forward with an interesting glint in her eyes. "You are not bad per se. But you are secretive. Very secretive."

 

"And that puts me into the crush-inducing category. Nice!" Tony grinned.

 

"Oh, shut up!" Then Maia turned serious. He tapped a finger on the table. "When you check that place out, be extremely careful. I didn't joke when I said he is smart. And you remember the drill, nothing can be traced back to me!" she warned.

 

Tony gave her a tiny salute.

 

“One more thing, Maia!” he pushed the picture of Fletcher towards her. “Have you seen this guy with him?”

 

Maia picked up the picture and narrowed her eyes at it. “Is this guy the one you managed get murdered in your holding cell?” She blinked at his annoyed expression. “What? This is the hottest scuttlebutt! There is an actual pool on who fucked up.”

 

“Maia!”

 

“Never seen him before.”

 

***

 

"You have your Greeny up in your guestroom," Fornell said as soon as he stepped into Gibbs' basement.

 

"None of your business," Gibbs answered as he sanded the side of his next boat.

 

“It has anything to do with the shifter party in town?” Fornell asked nonchalantly.

 

Gibbs examined the part he had been working on, then with a satisfied grunt, he threw the sandpaper over his shoulder. Only then did he turn towards his frenemy.

 

“What do you know?” He demanded.

 

Fornell sighed and he seemed to deflate. He looked nearly as old as his original age. Which was over one thousand if you are interested.

 

"Something is brewing, Gibbs," he said finally. Gibbs didn't move a muscle, just watched him. Fornell continued on his own.

 

"There have been incidents. All over the globe, but they are getting frequent here, in the States." 

 

“What incidents?”

 

"It concerns our world. Vampire clans turned against each other, Dark Witch attacks, Troll rampages, three Gremlins went rogue last month in New York, and now, shifter attacks here. The Elders are fearing exposure." Fornell listed with a grimace.

 

"The Elders are always fearing something," Gibbs muttered. "You think these incidents are connected," he observed.

 

“We know that someone generates the conflicts.” Fornell nodded. “Your case could lead---“

 

“I’m not sharing!”

 

"Goddamnit, Gibbs! I wasn't even asking." Tobias crossed his arms in front of himself. "All I'm asking is to be kept in the loop. This is bigger than us, Gibbs. Bigger than the two agencies."

 

“Do you have a suspect?” Gibbs ran a hand through his short hair.

 

“No. But we need one. Fast. Before this escalates into something really bad.” Fornell stepped towards the stairs. He grabbed the railing, then he stopped. “One more thing I think you should know.”

 

“What?”

 

“The Horde is on the move and they are coming here.”

 

“They want the shifter.” Gibbs hissed. The Horde was a group of vampires, who captured shifters and _trained_ them. After the truce with shifters, the Elders tried to eliminate the group, but sadly their society was still too glad to help them out. Gibbs had seen several trained shifters through his very long life. He still shivered at the dead eyes of those unlucky ones, who hadn’t died during the process. Gibbs hated shifters, but that… that was worse than cruel.

 

"Keep your eyes open!" Fornell warned him one more time than he disappeared.

 

“Damn it!” Gibbs hissed.

 

***

 _He_ seemed to watch the shifter through the observation glass, but in reality, _he_ was judging the reactions of the two vampires next to him. Hassell had a hungry glint in her blue eyes, while Thornton just looked bored.

 

“Don’t you want to swap it for a trained one?” Hassell asked _him_.

 

Thornton snorted loudly. “Look at it! This is just a damaged good.

 

“Come on, Mathias! These are the easiest to break in!” she purred. “I have several buyers who would like a big one like that.”

 

“This one is off limits.” _He_ spoke finally. _He_ looked back at Rage, who had been drugged after his little scene in _his_ office. He was sleeping in his real form and he would stay like that till the other shifter was taken care of.

 

“According to him, the other shifter is a big one too.” _he_ continued.

 

“Do we know anything about it?” Thornton asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Rage thinks it’s an Original, but he has no proof. Pretty strong though, got him running without even shifting.”

 

“Yummy!” Stella Hassell purred. “Male? Female?”

 

“Male. Probably a canine. When I asked for an impression of color, Rage said silver.” _He_ finished.

 

“So, we know absolutely nothing.” Thornton huffed with annoyance.

 

 _He_ smirked. "Well, that's not wholly true. He appeared when Rage tried to kill an NCIS agent."

 

“Oh!” Stella singsonged. “Came to the rescue or finished the job?”

 

“Rescue.”

 

Finally, Thornton looked interested. “That agent?”

 

“Is a human.” _He_ nodded.

 

“A human who awoke a protective instinct in a shifter?” Hassell grinned. “They must be close. NCIS agents work in teams, right?”

 

“Exactly.” _He_ grinned.

 

***

 

Tony waited till nightfall. The snow was falling again and although he liked snow, he also knew that it would make things just difficult. He still decided to wear all black. Snow is one thing. Who knows what he’d find there? He grabbed a pair of boots he hid in the deepest corner of his closet behind his designer shoes. He hesitated with his watch, but he decided to leave it on for now. He really didn’t want others to be able to follow his trace back to his home.

 

He opened his bedroom window and looked around carefully. This part of the apartment building was security camera free and the lights around it had gone mysteriously out five days after Tony’s arrival. Curious little things.

 

He climbed onto the windowsill and sniffed just to be safe. There was no one around, his nostrils were filled with the clean smell of snow. He jumped and arrived into the snow without a sound. He took off running. After moving to DC he had searched and found the best little alleys and small streets, where he could use his supernatural abilities without being detected. He was a very active nocturnal predator after all.

 

He had memorized the address, which was given to him by Maia. He maneuvered through the narrow alleys with ease and soon he arrived at the right neighborhood? He wouldn’t actually call it a neighborhood… This placed looked like a loveless child of a shantytown and an industrial distinct.

 

He stopped in the shadows and took off his watch carefully. His sense of smell sharpened even more, just like his other senses. He had to breathe through his mouth, because of the overwhelming stench.

 

“Not creepy at all.” he murmured to himself.

 

He looked around with interest. What would a fancy lawyer do at a place like that? Curious… Very curious… Or should he say hinky?

 

He started moving slowly, making sure he stayed out of sight. He had never had a chance to get Gallagher’s scent, but he hoped that he could found Fletcher’s or even Larsen’s trace.  He kept close to the ground this time. He knew well he was in an enemy’s territory, he shouldn’t be seen. 

 

The actual building that belonged to the address was a ruined apartment building.  His sharp hearing told him that the Potomac was running by nearby. However, one look at the building told him that it was nobody's home.

 

The main door was rusty and all together barely there so he pushed against it with his shoulder. It gave with a soft crack. He grabbed it and put it aside gently. He eased into the building. Curiously, everything looked dirty and unused, but his supernatural senses found several traces zig-zagging the place. A pair of vampires had been there just recently.

 

Tony frowned and hesitated. If he enters and leaves his trace there… He sniffed the air. His eyes widening, he jumped back. He quickly stepped out of the building.

 

That smell belonged to the other shifter!

 

A shifter paired with vampires? Or could it be that the Horde was there and the other shifter ended up…?

 

He turned and ran. He snapped his watch around his wrist without even stopping. A theory was forming in his mind faster than his actual speed.

 

Because Tony was old enough to know that The Story lies. Vampires and shifters could never bond and form a family.

 

***

 

  The next morning was started by a beautiful sentence. Luca Emerson declared that they could continue their investigation because they had no part in Fletcher's death. However, despite the good news, nothing was sunshine coated. They had barely set foot into the Navy Yard and Gibbs had been already barking orders at them. The Lead Agent had asked several questions that needed Tim's computer expertise, Kate had gotten the task of finding connections to Fletcher, then Gibbs had all but physically hauled Tony out of the building. It hadn't helped that the SFA hadn't seemed to have his usual wits with him that morning. 

 

“Are they checking out Fletcher’s apartment?” Tim asked as soon as the elevator’s door closed.

 

Kate blinked at the shiny metal with a stunned expression. “I think so.”

 

“Will he survive the drive?” he asked again.

 

"I don't think so… But we'll surely won't survive the day if we don't find something. Work!"

 

***

Tony wanted to kiss the ground when he got out of Gibbs’ car. He shot a dirty look at his boss back as the man strode towards the building. Okay, Tony would admit that they were short on time, but that rampage of Gibbs was truly unnecessary.

 

He gave up on that train of thought and followed his Boss wobbly.

 

They met with the landlord and Gibbs pushed their warrant (How did he get it so fast?) into the puffy and gooey fingers. Tony took a deep breath (it was his masked sniff) and tried not to grimace. Just an old, neglected man with a liver failure. He followed the men behind Gibbs and mused about the life choices that led him there.

 

Depressing train of thoughts…

 

The landlord opened Fletcher’s flat’s door and ushered them inside. He didn’t follow. As Tony passed him, the smell of vodka filled his nostrils. It brought back enough bad memories that Tony forcefully had to shut his mind off. He focused on his snappy boss.

 

“Well, that’s depressing,” he said out loud as he took in the tiny flat. It had only one room that contained the kitchen, living-room, and the bedroom. There was a tiny wall in the middle of it and it was the only thing that separated the two later.

 

“Get to work, DiNozzo!” Gibbs snapped, then walked into the kitchen part.

 

Tony hummed to himself than pulled a pair of gloves on. He chose the furthest corner and started from there. The depressing thing about the flat wasn’t its size, but the state of it. It was messy, dusty, dark, miserable and _smelly_.

 

Very smelly! Tony huffed to himself as he searched through the nightstand. Everything reeked rat. He hated that smell. Although he noted to himself that he couldn’t smell anybody/ anything else, just Fletcher. It could be important, he nodded.

 

The work was agonizing and he couldn't even lighten the mood because if he had dared to open his mouth, Gibbs' full focused glare had been turned on him. He didn't know what his Boss problem was, but he really hoped it wasn't another gut feeling. Vampires were freakily good at those.

 

Despite being so small, searching the flat took awfully long and Gibbs mood was just getting worse. Tony was truly scared to get back into the car with him with that little amount of DNA material they managed to collect. Tony put those into their freezer bag despite knowing thanks to his nose that all of those belonged to Fletcher, then with a sigh, he got into the car.

 

They were racing back towards the Navy Yard when Kate called them with a list of people who might have known Fletcher. Gibbs ordered her to dig deeper with McGee than he did a near-fatal U-turn.

 

"You know, it's really useful if you are alive when you are interviewing people," he commented after he finally peeled himself off the window.

 

“Shut up, DiNozzo!”  Gibbs growled.

 

"Just saying. Ghosts usually creep them out."

 

“Shut up!”

 

“Shutting up!” Tony breathed after another close call.

 

***

Tim tried really hard not to blush as the beautiful blond behind the counter flashed him a bright smile. He leaned against the counter and tried to channel a little DiNozzo.

 

“Stella? Beautiful name!” he hadn’t stuttered! Victory!

 

The woman’s smile was flirty and she spoke with an accent he didn’t recognize.

 

“Thank you!” she purred. “But you don’t wear a name tag.”

 

"I am Special Agent Timothy McGee!" he declared proudly. He had been close to ad Tony's trademark ‘very' to his sentence but thought better of it in the end. Stella's red lips formed a pretty o. Tim felt truly special.

 

“So you work there?” she nodded towards the Navy Yard that was visible through the huge window of the coffee shop. “Than your job must be truly dangerous!” she breathed.

 

“Sometimes!” Tim grinned. “Nothing I can’t deal with!”

 

Stella’s coworker placed his order in front of her and the blond beauty rearranged the cups.

 

“Your coffee, Special Agent!” she purred. Her index finger traced his wrist when he reached for the cups. “I’ll see you around, right?”

 

His whole body shuddered in response to her touch.

 

“S-sure!” Great his stuttering was back.

 

He left the coffee shop in a daze.

 

***

 

“What are you doing tonight?”

 

Abby was bouncing up and down in front of her desk with her trademark too eager expression.

 

“Probably sleep, if Gibbs allows us to go home tonight,” Kate answered. “Why?”

 

“What about a pajama party? A girls night strictly here in the lab?”

 

Kate blinked first stunned, then suspicion narrowed her eyes.

 

"Abby?" it sounded like a warning. Which it was actually. "Abby, talk to me!"

 

The scientist bit down on her lower lip and effectively painted her teeth with her black lipstick. She worried her lab coat with her fingers.

 

“Abby?”

 

“It’s just… I have a very hinky feeling for tonight and Gibbs has it too and I just…”

 

“Don’t want to be alone tonight.” Kate finished for her. Usually, Abby’s and Gibbs’ foresight had the tendency to come true. Kate couldn’t blame the young witch for her worry.

 

"Okay. I'm up for a pajama party." she smiled her gentlest smile. She barely finished her sentence and Abby was already hugging her tightly. Kate hugged her back soaking up every little drop of human contact she could.

 

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Abby beamed at her. "See you later then!"

 

Kate starred after the energetic witch with a fond smile. Yes, she would do anything for her. Staying in her lab for a night just to smooth down her ruffled feathers were nothing.

 

“Kate? Is Abby alright?”

 

She looked up and saw that Tim had returned from his coffee break. She had a smile for him too when he placed a cup in front of her.

 

“Yes, Tim she is alright. Don’t worry.” Because she would protect Abby at all cost.

 

A frown appeared on Tim’s innocent, young face. “You do remember that you don’t have to hide from me anymore, right?”

 

She tucked her hair behind her ear then looked into her teammate's eyes.

 

“There is nothing to hide. Trust me, please.” she hesitated for a second. “But… stay close to Gibbs tonight, okay?”

 

***

 _His_ phone rang and _he_ turned away from the sight of the Potomac. _He_ picked up the receiver.

 

“Yes?”

 

“You were right about the Agent, Sir!” _he_ heard Mathias’ voice. He didn’t sound bored this time. “We tested him and he has the faint trace of a shifter on him. It’s probably using a _Suppressor_ because it was barely there.”

 

 _He_ frowned at his desk. “Than how did you find it?”

 

Thornton snorted into the line. “Stella is really good at her job. Trust us. We have found it.”

 

“Do you know who?”

 

“Oh, we have a very good guess. We are taking it tonight.”

 

***

 

He had been on edge the whole day. His gut was screaming at him that something was coming. Something bad. Fornell's warning of the Horde hadn't helped either. He had reported to Morrow about them and he hoped that this time the Elders would actually do something. He had been really close to call Franks, but in the end, his pride had won. He didn't need the older vampire's help… yet…

 

However, he couldn't fight down the urge to keep his team close. To his relief, Kate had decided to stay with Abby through the night while the witch continued to work on the smuggled weapons still in her lab. He knew that Ducky would take care of himself and if needed, Palmer. The old ME had grown awfully fond of that gremlin.

 

That left his two humans to him.

 

McGee had been easy. But Tony… it had been actually hilarious how wide his green eyes had turned when he had ordered him into his car.

 

“But _my_ heating is okay…” he mumbled, but he trailed off when Gibbs’ glare was turned on him.

 

“Do you have anywhere else to be? On a school night?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

Tony fidgeted in front of him.

 

“No?”

 

“Than get into my car!”

 

“But my…” he snapped his mouth shut when Gibbs glared again. McGee walked past him and patted his shoulder.

 

“Give up!” he advised wisely. Tony first shot a glare at the probie, but then gave up with a sigh.

 

Tony quickly reminded himself that his yabba-yabba usually annoyed the life out of McGee, so after two and a half minutes of sulking, he launched himself into a never-ending and ridiculous theory making. At least it was about the connection between Fletcher and Gallagher.

 

“Five movie references in one minute,” McGee muttered to himself as they followed Tony who had skipped ahead into Gibbs’ home. The SFA had put the takeaway they had picked up before onto the coffee table in the living-room and he was rummaging through the fridge by the time the other two arrived inside.

 

“Beer?” he asked without looking up.

 

"No. Still taking Ducky's antibiotics." McGee said. The young agent started sorting out their food, while Gibbs accepted the beer that was offered to him. Tony threw himself down onto the couch with his own drink and kicked off his expensive shoes.

 

“What now?”

 

Gibbs didn’t know which one he meant, their case or their evening plans. He decided to go with the former.

 

"We spent most of our day focusing on Fletcher. Let's try Larsen again," he suggested.

 

McGee seemed to perk up at that. He put his food aside (a kinda okay tasting Chinese takeout.) and tugged his laptop out of his bag.

 

“I wanted to backtrace Larsen’s and Fletcher’s cells. To find joint points. There could be a pattern!” the young agent explained enthusiastically.

 

"Good one, McSmarty!" Tony grinned and opened his beer. Gibbs followed his example and took a big gulp of the drink. It had a funny aftertaste. He pulled the bottle away from his lips and stared at the label. His usual kind and it wasn't expired. Than wha---

 

He snapped his head up when with a loud thud, Tony’s bottle fell to the ground. The SFA’s hands flew to his throat and he clawed at the skin there. The man’s eyes were wide as he leaned forward and gasped for air, which didn’t seem to get in! Gibbs was in front of him the next second and grabbed his shoulders. He ordered McGee to call 911, but the young man was already typing into his phone.

 

“Tony, listen, everything will be alright, okay?”

 

It tore at him how scared Tony’s eyes were. No… the young man was terrified. He had never seen his SFA look so terrified.

 

The young man's lips moved like he tried to talk, but other than the awful sound of Tony's barely there breathing, no sound came out. Then Tony's brain shut itself down and the young man collapsed against the vampire. Gibbs was seriously considering to do the changing ritual on him when with screaming sirens, the ambulance arrived.

 

"I'll get them!" McGee ran for the door. The probie looked as pale as the barely alive man in Gibbs' arms.

 

Then the medics were there, dragging Tony away from him. One of them stabbed a syringe into Tony’s tight through his jeans, while another one tilted the young man’s head back expertly and placed a mask with a balloon over his blue lips.

 

“This looks like an anaphylactic reaction.” someone said.

 

Anaphylactic? That meant allergy. Gibbs blinked. Tony wasn’t supposed to be allergic to anything. He just had bad reactions to painkillers, but that was more of an oversensitivity, not real allergy…

 

He watched the fury of activity around the young man in an impotent anger. Then suddenly someone said stable and stretcher and they were moving Tony again.

 

“I'm his next of kin,” he said when they were wheeling the still unconscious young man towards the ambulance. “I’m coming with you.”

 

"I'm sorry, Sir!" the oldest of the three turned towards him with an apologetic expression. "He is stable, but we have to be on standby. We can't afford to have our attention divided. We are taking him to Bethesda. You can meet us there."

 

Gibbs gave the man a jerky nod as he stamped down on his anger. Tony's safety was the most important thing after all.

 

"Our best scientist will be here soon and we'll find out what the toxin was," he said.

 

The man smiled warmly at him. “That will be very helpful. Now, we have to go.”

 

"I called Abby," McGee told Gibbs as soon as the ambulance's door closed behind the man and the vehicle shot out onto the road with screaming sirens.

 

“She will be here soon with Kate.”

 

“They better be!” Gibbs hissed and he stormed back into his house. He looked around with critical eyes, searching for any sign of an intruder.

 

“Get us gloves!” he barked at Tim.

 

As soon as the young man got back with the wanted items, he snapped them onto his hands and reached for the cap of Tony's bottle. He examined it carefully. There… the tiny hole as expected. He was getting angrier second by second. He looked around again snarling. Someone had gotten into his home and put something into his beer.

 

“Check every bottle for this!” he showed the cap into Tim’s hand. The young man was smart enough to understand what he wanted and soon was checking the fridge.

 

Gibbs didn’t find any sign of forced entry. Although, he left his door open all the time. But it was known by only a selected few. When he failed to find any evidence of a someone entering, he started searching for a _trace_.

 

But nothing.

 

“Gibbs!”

 

Abby sounded hysteric as she stormed into his house. She flew into his arms as he quickly stepped in front of her. Kate was following her with a tense expression. She was carrying a huge box, which he knew contained Abby’s on the go kit.

 

“Abby. I need you to find out what it was.” he gently pried the young woman off himself. The witch nodded vigorously and while still sniffing, she made her way towards her box, which had been placed onto the ground with Tim’s help.

 

“I think everything in your fridge has been tampered with.” the young agent reported grimly.

 

Gibbs didn’t say a word, just watched as Abby got to work. She opened her kit and revealed five rows of vials, each of them containing a reagent for a certain poison or drug.

 

“Include the supernatural ones.” He ordered. His stomach was churning again.

 

Abby asked for a bottle which was provided by Tim immediately and got to work. She put a drop of it in every vial. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, two more rows… then one of them turned purple.

 

“Gibbs…” Abby breathed. She sounded off. Really off. Gibbs’ body tensed.

 

“What is it, Abs?”

 

Abby turned towards him, her eyes wide and scared. And shocked. Very shocked.

 

“Abby?”

 

He didn't know who asked it, he wasn't paying attention, all of his focus was on the woman in front of him. Finally, she spoke.

 

"This is Wolfsbane.”

 

Gibbs starred ahead. His mind was putting together the information that had been poured onto him through the last couple of days. A sudden appearance of a second shifter when McGee was attacked. The Horde on the move. The glint in Tony's eyes since the beginning of their case. Allergic reaction to Wolfsbane.

 

“Gibbs?”

 

He ignored the stuttered version of his name and turned away from the group. He grabbed McGee's phone off the coffee table and dialed the well-known number.

 

“Doctor Dona---”

 

“Get to Bethesda, now!” he barked into the line.

 

“Jethro? What’s---”

 

"DiNozzo had an allergic reaction to Wolfsbane. Bethesda! Now!"

 

Ducky ended the call without another word. He clenched his fingers around the tiny device as anger was trying to take over his mind. The others didn’t dare to talk to him. Good. He was not ready to talk.

 

Minutes ticked by slowly. The device in his fingers somehow remind intact, but also silent. Then after who knows how long a warm glow filled the room and Ducky stepped out of it. Gibbs breathed in deeply knowing well that his suspicion had been confirmed. He didn’t need the owl spirit’s words, but Ducky talked.

 

“Bethesda knows nothing about Anthony.”       

       

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gibbs is on a rampage. Tim is trying to keep up with them all and hopes that his favorite shifter will hold on long enough for them to find him.

_Well, you can try_  
_To be civilized_

_(Stay Alive - Hidden citizens)_

 

Stunned Chaos. If he could name the mood in his house it would be that. His team was scrambling around, searching, searching, but not finding… It was a miserable sight. The most disturbing view though wasn’t Kate as she strode up and down in the house searching for a trace despite the fact that she wasn’t a vampire, nor Abby as she was holding a crystal above a map, while clutching DiNozzo’s keys in her other hand, not even Tim, who was searching for answers on his laptop, no. It was Ducky, who was standing in the middle of his living-room and actually glowing. Did he mention that the Owl Spirit was staring at him without fucking blinking?

 

Actually, his whole team kept glancing at him, when they thought he wasn’t looking. Of course, he knew why.

 

Of all the stupid creatures, it had to be a  _ shifter _ …

 

He decided not to think about that. He bared his teeth at Ducky and turned away. He didn’t need his supernatural senses that it didn’t chagrin the Spirit at all.

 

The door to his house opened and Morrow walked in followed closely by Fornell. Gibbs sensed his team tensing up behind him, then relax when the realization came. The Director looked around slowly, taking in the mess of the not-medics, then his eyes found Gibbs’.

 

“Can we talk?”

 

Gibbs pushed himself away from his coffee table and growled at Kate’s and Tim’s too eager faces to continue their work, then he led the pair of vampires towards his basement. He stopped next to his boat and looked expectantly at the other two. Morrow leaned against his railing and sighed.

 

“I really hoped that DiNozzo would have more time than this.”

 

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at him. “What do you mean by that?”

 

Morrow just stared back at him impassively, allowing him to figure it out on his own.

 

“You knew?” He hissed and took a step towards the Director. Morrow didn’t look intimidated, the Bastard! At least Fornell looked surprised.

 

“How?” the former Marine snarled.

 

“His father isn’t as keen on secrecy as his son,” Morrow said dryly. “First, I thought that DiNozzo was a mundane because he had no trace and didn’t have any connection to his father even though shifters usually stick together Then I noticed that his watch was a  _ Suppressor _ .”

 

Gibbs was so angry that he nearly jumped the Director. He took a step back and started pacing instead. Killing a high-ranking vampire wouldn’t help his case.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he gritted out.

 

“The Elders were working so hard on bringing the vampires and shifters back together. To reawaken the ancient balance. Then you of all people bring a shifter back with yourself? When it became clear that you didn’t know about him, I couldn’t let your prejudice ruin this chance. You needed to bond first.”

 

Gibbs couldn’t believe his ears. He had been played. Again! How could he pried himself to be an excellent investigator when the people around him had him dancing around while yanking his strings? He stared at Morrow without blinking. Killing the Director sounded reasonable and very nice.

 

“DiNozzo doesn’t know that I know.” Morrow felt the need to add.

 

However, that didn’t change the fact that with a shifter’s abilities, Tony probably knew well, who he was. What he was.

 

“I don’t care about this now.” he hissed. His piercing blue eyes turned on Fornell. “I want to know everything about the Horde.”

 

Fornell nodded, then visibly prepared himself for the report.

 

“There are three agents at the FBI, all of them vampires, whose goal is to stop the Horde. Bertha Kathleen, Zack Oswald and me. We have captured several smaller groups, but this organization is huge. Those we managed to capture didn’t know enough for us to go on. Moreover, every one of them mysteriously died in prison. Some of them suicide, but there are few that was done by someone from the outside.” The FBI Agent explained.

 

“So, you basically know nothing,” Gibbs concluded.

 

“That’s not true. We do know that a dominant pair leads them. The two of them have every information concerning the group. If we take them out, the Horde probably falls apart.” Fornell corrected him.

 

“And where is this pair now?”

 

The Agent didn’t have an answer to that. Just as Gibbs thought.

 

“I know someone, who could help us out,” Morrow spoke up after a few minutes of silence. The other two vampires turned eager eyes on him. The Director leveled a stern stare at Fornell.

 

“No one else can approach her. Not now, not later. I’ll personally deal with you if she reports unwanted visitors. Am I clear?”

 

Fornell looked frustrated at that but nodded unhappily. He was not stupid, he wouldn’t challenge an Elder. Then Morrow’s gaze fell on Gibbs.

 

“The same goes for you too. Do not threaten her. Don’t demand. Use words like please and thank you. Otherwise, you are on your own.”

 

Gibbs couldn’t give a shit about sensitive who-knows-whats, but he also couldn’t let a lead slip out of his fingers. He also gave a tense nod.

 

“I call her.” Morrow stepped away from them.

 

Gibbs felt Fornell’s eyes on him.

 

“Don’t say a word.” he hissed and turned away.

 

Fornell though didn’t understand the word ‘don’t’.

 

“You have to admit,” he started, but Gibbs cut him off.

 

“I don’t have to admit anything and you are forgetting that I have lots of wood around here.”

 

Lucky for the FBI Agent, Morrow ended the conversation on his phone and stepped back to them.

 

“Victoria will speak to you,” he reported. He leveled a glare at the pair in front of him. “I meant what I said before! Behave! Here is the address. No unnecessary powerplay! Use a car!”

 

He handed a paper to Gibbs, then led the way out of the basement. The rest of their team waited for them eagerly.

 

“McGee, with me!” Gibbs barked and stepped around Morrow. “Kate, I want the heads of those paramedics on my desk by the time I get back! Move it, people!”

 

Fornell barely had time to jump into the car before Gibbs sped away.

 

“What about the stars? There are plenty of them! I could bring them down one by one and wrapped them up in pretty wrapping paper!” Kate ranted as she all but threw the bagged evidence into her field case. She looked up to see Morrow watching her with raised eyebrows.

 

“Sorry,  _ Sir _ ! I have a case to solve!” she huffed and stormed out of the house. Soon they heard her shout for Abby. The scientist quickly scrambled after her.

 

***

Gibbs was on a rampage, Tim concluded as he held onto the oh-shit-handle with a death grip. Dawn was still far away and everything was pitch black. Visibility was even worse thanks to the snow which fell heavily. It was like they were driving through an old white curtain.

 

And Gibbs was driving way over the speed limit!

 

Tim’s left hand held his laptop against his chest. He had brought it with himself hoping that he could trace the ambulance that took Tony, but it was impossible to even turn it on with Gibbs driving like that.

 

At least Gibbs rampage gave him hope. When Morrow had taken Gibbs and Fornell to the basement, Abby had pulled him aside and explained to him in great detail how much vampires and shifters hated each other. She feared that now that Gibbs had found out, he would give up on Tony. However, Tim refused to believe that. He had seen the dynamic between the two men. He couldn’t see how a revelation like that could erase connection like that. Just look at him! He wasn’t severing his ties with them and after all, he was the human one!  This couldn’t separate Gibbs and Tony, he was sure of that.

 

“You know ---” Fornell started, but the other vampire snarled at him.

 

“Shut up, Tobias!”

 

“Just wanted to tell you that you missed a turn,” Fornell continued not at all faced by the ex-marine’s anger.

 

A muscle twitched on Gibbs’ face, then the next moment he took a u-turn. Tim swallowed back his yelp and thanked the heavens that because of the late (early?) hour, there was no one on the road.

 

The asphalt disappeared from under them and the rest turned into a really bumpy ride. By the way, Tim had no fucking idea how the two vampires knew where they were and where they were headed. He couldn’t see anything through the darkness and snow. All he knew that they were really far from the city.

 

Then Gibbs stopped the car without a warning. Only his seatbelt prevented Tim from becoming one with the back of Fornell’s seat. He leaned to the side and glanced ahead. All he could see was a simple, wooden gate few feet away from the nose of the car.

 

“You stay in the car!” Gibbs ordered without even looking at him.

 

“But… than why did you bring me with you?” Tim huffed. He was way too tired and worked up to remember that Gibbs was actually scary.

 

“You seem to forget that a shifter tried to hunt you down and you just lost your guard dog.” Gibbs snapped.

 

Tim shrunk back into his seat, but as soon as Gibbs and Fornell got out of the car, he rolled the window down.  He wasn’t forbidden from listening in after all…

 

He watched as Gibbs reached for the gate, then suddenly took a step back. Fornell crouched down and examined something in the snow.

 

“Mountain ash!” he said as he stood. “She knows that we are here!”

 

“Damn it!” Gibbs hissed.

 

Mountain ash, Tim nodded to himself. He would look it up as soon as they get their shifter back.

 

He watched as the two vampires waited impatiently. Gibbs was pacing up and down in front of the gate. Tim wished that whoever they were waiting for would hurry up.

 

His wish was answered in the form of a woman. They could see her approach through the gate. She looked to be in her fifties, although her hair was blond. Her posture was perfect and it was paired with elegant movements. She wore a long white coat. She looked exactly like Helen Mirren.

 

“Agent Gibbs, Agent Fornell, if I’m not mistaken.” she greeted the two men. “My name is Victoria Audley. Thomas told me you need my help.”

 

Tim noted that she had a British accent.

 

“Yes, Ma’am, it’s---” Fornell started but she shut him up with a wave.

 

“Please, follow me!” She opened the gate and Tim watched with amazement as the two men jumped a little. She looked directly at Tim and the smile that appeared on her face looked gentle. Still, Tim felt dread tightening his stomach.

 

“You too, Child! Come!”

 

“He stays out here!” Gibbs snapped.

 

The woman raised an eyebrow at him, then looked around meaningfully. She even raised her hands and turned a little.

 

“Really, Agent Gibbs? Your protectiveness seems to lead to foolish ideas. I have a feeling that your problem is originating from a similar foolish idea. Now, come on, Child!” she urged him with a wave of her hand too.

 

Tim got out of the car slowly and approached the three. He noticed that the Helen Millen lookalike had similar intense blue eyes just like Gibbs. He didn’t have enough experience to know for sure, but he had the feeling that she was a vampire too. He made sure that he stayed close to his Boss.

 

“Indeed, I’m a vampire.” Victoria smiled. “By the way, Helen Millen looks like me. Whoever she is, I’m sure that I’m the older one.”

 

Tim’s eyes widened. He had read it in the Codex, yes, but he completely forgot that vampires could read minds. Shit!

 

“Stop it!” Gibbs came to his rescue. The silver-haired vampire’s body was so tense that Tim feared that he would just… snap. However, Victoria didn’t seem to be faced at all. She watched the man’s fury rising cheerfully.

 

“You should be proud, Agent Gibbs. The Child’s mind is quite complex. He is very hard to read. You are really good with numbers, aren’t you?”

 

“I am…” Tim bit down on his lower lip. He was not familiar with the habits of vampires and he couldn’t decide what this was, a powerplay or something else, but he knew that they didn’t have time. So, he spoke up. “Ma’am, our friend is missing. Director Morrow said that you have information for us. Can you help us, please?”

 

Victoria hummed.

 

“How interesting humans are, aren’t they? There  _ is _ a reason why they are the dominant species. I apologize for my behavior. Please, follow me. We’ll talk inside.”

 

She ushered them through the gate and this time all of them could step through it, then she led them through a tiny avenue. Everything was quiet around them, only the snow crunched under their boots. The snow was still falling and it covered their tracks.

 

After about ten minutes of walk, he saw light ahead of them. A house seemed to appear out of the darkness. It was small but looked welcoming and taken-care of. Victoria stepped onto the porch, then ushered them inside.

 

“Will! I’m back!” She called out.

 

Tim was shaking the snow off his coat when he noticed the dark-skinned teenager. The boy seemed to be frozen in the doorway. Only his dark eyes were moving. They were flying between the group and Victoria. A pitiful sound escaped the lips of the boy, the dark eyes looked pleading as they finally settled on the woman.

 

“It’s okay, Will!” Victoria spoke gently. “They mean no harm. We have talked about that.”

 

The boy whimpered again and turned his eyes to the ground.

 

“He is a shifter,” Gibbs observed. The sight of the boy seemed to take away a lot from the silver vampire’s fury.

 

“Just a shiftling,” Fornell corrected him.

 

Victoria stepped next to the teenager and patted the long dreadlocks that covered his head.

 

“Now, now, Agent Fornell! It’s rude to call them that. They call them Blessed Ones!” She put a reassuring hand on the back of the teenager and stirred him into the living-room. They followed them silently.

 

_ Shiftling: Humans that were turned by the bite of a true-bloodied shifter. Compared to the Originals who were born shifters, shiftlings always remain part human and their children can’t inherit their shiftling abilities.  _ Tim’s mind supplied the information he had read in the Codex. He followed the others and sat down in an armchair when Victoria motioned at it. Fornell took another, while Gibbs remained standing. Will huddled close to Victoria on the couch.

 

“Ms. Audley. Keeping a trained shifter is against the law and---“

 

“Now, stop here, Agent Fornell!” Will jumped a little when the woman next to him snapped. “No one owns Will. He stays with me because he wants to.”

 

“Have the two of you bonded?” Gibbs asked. Tim glanced at him. Compared to Fornell, who snorted at the question, he didn’t sound accusing. Was he curious or even hopeful? Tim needed Tony’s ability to read their Boss badly.

 

“Back then, I was the member of a clan. A man who was supposed to be my future husband as the part of my courting took me to a training center. He planned to give me Will as a gift. It was before the Civil War when keeping shifters were still acceptable. I never owned a shifter before and I didn’t know what I was getting into. Do you know how they train them?”  When Victoria looked up, Tim shook his head. Gibbs and Fornell stayed still.

 

“They first force them to become feral. When they lose their sentient side, they break them in. When I saw what they were doing to Will,” Victoria stared ahead. She seemed to be lost in her memories. The look on her face showed how horrifying that experience must have been. “I couldn’t keep watching. I had to do something.”

 

“What did you do?” Gibbs prompted.

 

Victoria’s face showed cold satisfaction when her eyes found him. “I killed them. Every one of them.”

 

“And you kept Will,” Fornell added.

 

“No. He stayed with me. I was the only one in his life who showed him anything other than hatred.”

 

“That training center. Did it belong to the Horde?” Tim asked. He started to see why Morrow had sent them there.

 

However, Victoria shook her head. “That one? No. But after the Truce, the Horde had become the sole trainer clan. I swore that I’d do everything in my power to stop the training.” she stood and walked to the bookcase that covered the east-side of the room. Will whimpered pitifully, but she wasn’t gone long. She took a huge file box from the lowest shelf and brought it back to the group.

 

“There is a group, we are called by a very clever name by the others, Shifter-petters,” she said sarcastically, “but we managed to gather some information. The Horde keeps clan members in the big cities all around the globe. These are the informants, who report the surfacing of shifters to the leader pair. After that, the Capture Team comes and hunts down the shifter. They usually use Wolfsbane to subside them. Thomas told me that your friend had been poisoned by it too, right?”

 

Gibbs nodded curtly. “Than an ambulance came when we called 911 and they took him away. He never arrived at the hospital.”

 

Victoria nodded. “Those were the members of the Capture Team too. They use this method a lot. By the time you notice that something is wrong, they are far away.”

 

“But how do we find them?” Fornell asked. He was eyeing the file box but didn’t dare to approach it yet.

 

 

“Just like every vampire, they are the creatures of habit too,” Victoria explained. She took a thick file out of the box and handed it to Gibbs. “They have a base in every big city or near them, and they always return to it. The only problem is,” She straightened herself with a sigh, “that we couldn’t find the one in DC yet.”

 

“So, we still know nothing.” Fornell summarized.

 

Victoria looked at him, clearly not amused, then she turned her attention back to Gibbs. “This is not true.”

 

She reached into the box again and pulled out two other files.

 

“We know the Leader Pair.” she put the files onto the table and opened both of them. “Mathias Thornton and Stella Hassell. They have met in the Second World War and took over the Horde three years later. Although their story could be really romantic, considering that Hassell is German, while Thornton is American, but the reality is that they are cold-blooded murderers. Thornton is the one who does most of the training, while Hassell specialty lies in the identifying and in the selling.”

 

“I know her.” Tim stammered. Cold dread had filled his stomach the moment he saw the photograph of her. Those blond curls, that teasing smile, there was no mistake…

 

“From where?” Gibbs demanded. He grabbed the photograph and narrowed his blue eyes at it.

 

“I met her today… I mean yesterday in the coffee shop near the Yard.”

 

Victoria nodded thoughtfully. “As I said, identification. She approached you because she knew you wouldn’t recognize her or her intents.”

 

“So, I led them to Tony?” The thought was horrifying enough for Tim to force it into a very dark corner of his mind and shut a lock close on it.

 

“Do not blame yourself!” Victoria tapped the table with her nails rhythmically. “This is what they do. They have been doing this for a very long time.”

 

“We can go back there and find her trace.” Gibbs pulled his cell out of his pocket, but Fornell stopped him with a headshake.

 

“They are all using  _ Suppressors _ .”

 

“This is the second time today that someone babbles about these  _ Suppressors _ ! Care to explain what are those?” Gibbs snapped.

 

“You don’t know what Suppressors are?” Fornell asked back with a raised eyebrow. Gibbs bared his teeth at him, eyes turning unnatural blue. Will whimpered again and moved even closer to Victoria. She hushed him gently and put a reassuring hand on the young looking shiftling’s shoulder.

 

“I’ll explain, Agent Gibbs, but you need to calm down. I know how hard it is to lose your bonded shifter, but this is not helping.”

 

“We are not bonded!” Gibbs snapped, but then he visibly forced his anger back.

 

Victoria raised an elegant eyebrow and Tim suspected that she wasn’t convinced. He found it somehow reassuring.

 

“Suppressors are devices made by witches. Powerful witches. They can hide the trace of any species of our word while also suppressing some of their abilities. This bad and good news for us. Bad, because they can hide in plain sight, but also good because of this.” she reached into the box again and this time she got out a bracelet, which was wrapped into a plastic bag. She handed it to Gibbs who took it with a raised eyebrow.

 

“You have the trace of a witch on you. This is made by a witch or a druid, but my bet is on the witch. Yours probably has the ability to find the one who made it. She could lead you to the Horde.”

 

Victoria continued to share the information she had gathered with them, locations, names, pictures. However, Tim’s attention was captured by Will. The shiftling kept glancing at him from under his dreadlocks. The dark eyes scanned his body, then they returned their original task of studying a supposedly interesting spot on the table. A few moments later the circle was repeated. Tim figured that from out of the three of them, he would be the less threatening looking one. (Personally, he had thought that Fornell didn’t look threatening either, but that had been before he had found out that the guy was a vampire. What a game changer!) His eyes met again with Will’s, but the shiftling turned away quickly.

 

“Everything is in here. If I find anything else, I’ll call Thomas.” Victoria’s voice brought Tim back to the darker, but the way more important topic. Fornell took the box from her and hoisted it up into his arms. Gibbs still held the wrapped bracelet in his hand. His intense blue eyes seemed to be clouded with thoughts. He was probably a million miles away. Tim hoped that that million miles covered Tony’s rescue too.

 

Victoria accompanied them back to the car. As he was walking through the small avenue Tim turned back for a second. He saw Will’s dreadlocks covered face watching him through a window.

 

***

Kate spent the whole night and dawn staring at her monitor. She had followed the ambulance’s journey with traffic cameras through the city, till it reached a parking lot. Usually, investigating a scene like that alone would be a big no, no! But this time her Team Leader was interviewing someone, while her SFA was missing. Thanks to that certain ambulance and its occupants.

 

And she is kinda immortal.

 

So, Kate wrapped her coat around herself and borrowed an agency car. The Sun was rising by the time she reached the parking lot. This time she didn’t find it reassuring as she usually does. Vampires usually active at night, not at daylight. And as it is a well-known fact that the Horde is a racist bunch of vampires… Well, it wasn’t looking good for them. Or rather Tony.

 

And she is not thinking about that!

 

The snow was still falling heavily when she got out of the car. She looked at the cloud above the city with uneasiness.

 

“Did a Yuki-onna move here or what?” she murmured. She didn’t remember seeing this much snow in DC ever. It covered the cars around her in a heavy, white blanket. She walked up and down between the rows of cars. The closest traffic camera had a good view of the entrance of the parking lot and there was no other way out. The ambulance should be there.

 

“Here you are,” she whispered, her breath making little puffs of mist in the air. The car that took Tony away from Gibbs’ house stood there, sitting innocently between two monstrous camions.

 

She pulled her Sig free and approached the back doors. Although, she was one hundred percent sure that the Horde members were already far away. She wrapped her gloved fingers around the handle and opened the door. Only her supernatural strength allowed her to open the heavy thing so suddenly.

 

However, her efforts were not rewarded.

 

“I hate it when I’m right,” she muttered.

 

The ambulance was empty. The stretcher was there, just like Tony’s shirt and watch. Kate winced. That was cruel considering how cold it was. She picked up the watch and quickly a frown appeared on her pretty face. It gave out a strange vibe. It reminded her of Abby’s talismans, but still different. Abby would find out. She put it down gently on the stretcher than she closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and concentrated. She was no vampire, but she was not half bad at finding a trace either.

 

She opened her eyes and gasped a little. She found a trace, alright. She was sure that it was Tony’s. The intensity of it brought forward several questions.

 

For example, how did he hide it? The trace was strong. Like very strong! It almost glowed! Than how?

 

“Now, I know how his mere presence chased away the other shifter,” she commented.

 

She pulled out her cell and dialed her Boss’ number.

 

“Gibbs!”

 

“Holly shit! Don’t drive and ---“

 

“Shut up, Tobias! What is it, Kate?”

 

“I found the ambulance. Tony and the vampires are not here,” she reported.

 

She heard Gibbs growl and she waited for a proper answer.

 

“Bag and tag everything. Take photos. Meet us at Ducky’s as soon as you are finished. And watch your six!” Her orders came.

 

“On it,” she answered the beeping sound after Gibbs ended the call. It sounded like that her Boss was on his way back with Tim. Working from Ducky house sounded logical too. This was as supernatural as it could get. Not something for the bullpen.

 

She closed the door of the ambulance and started back to her car for her kit.

 

***

Gibbs had lied. His words, everything will be alright, were still ringing in his ears as his semi-paralyzed body fought to fight off the effects of the Wolfsbane.

 

No, nothing was going to be alright. He had been captured again. That was all it took. Few hundred years of freedom and he allowed himself to slip.

 

Even though he wanted to shake the thought out of his mind and slip into denial, he didn’t move a muscle. He was not a beginner at this and he knew how he could win some time for himself. He had taken stock of his current state. Chains around his wrist, keeping his hands firmly together in front of him. Check. Chains around his ankles, not as restricting, but still there. Check. That hated enhanced collar around his neck, must have been coated with silver because it burnt like hell. Check. Come to think of it, everything they had put on him was coated with silver, because as he had said it before, it burnt like fucking hell. Even that even more hated standard shifter muzzle, that kept his mouth firmly shut and covered half of his face, his nose too. Just to be sure, the bastards had put dried Wolfsbane in it. It didn’t have the same effect as the highly concentrated one that he drank, but with every breath he took, he inhaled some of it. The awful headache, the head spinning, the weakness, his inability to shift were all the effects of that. And the collar. That fucking collar!

 

It didn’t help either that he knew what was coming. Experience was a hell of a bitch. At least this time they had left his jeans on him. He needed every little drop of dignity he could get to keep himself sane.

 

But for what? A tiny voice asked it again and again from a dark corner of his mind. He had a hard time ignoring it. He knew why the voice was even there. It was not just his freedom he had lost that night, his whole life had shattered into a million pieces. He had no illusions. Gibbs must have found out. He had known even from the start, when he decided to stay close to the vampire, that he was playing a very dangerous game.

 

He had two possibilities. One, Gibbs would turn his back on him, abandon him. Why wouldn’t he? Vampires and shifters don’t match. They just don’t. But Gibbs was a good man deep down under that bastardish vampire exterior. He doesn’t leave people behind, even if he doesn’t like them. Semper fi and all. He would probably come for him, maybe he would succeed in freeing him, then he would probably kick his sorry ass out the door. Not that he could stay in DC either way. His cover was blown. The vampires know about him. He couldn’t stay.

 

But first, he was still captured. How did he escape the last time? He had no idea. He had just snapped in the middle of the procedure and lost his connection to the world. Next thing he remembered was him wandering around in the woods totally naked. Could he free himself again? Then he could disappear without a trace again and he wouldn’t have to face his reality.

 

He pushed himself into a sitting position when he heard the lock of his cell snapping. He rewarded the first arrival with a deep growl that rumbled in his chest. He didn’t need to open his mouth for that after all.

 

The Wolfsbane in his mask covered up their smell, but he didn’t need his supernatural senses to know that the man on the front and the female who followed him were both vampires. The woman gave it away. Everything in her movements just screamed vampire. He didn’t like the smile on her face.

 

“Well, that’s not the one I was expecting.” the man spoke, his words addressing the woman.

 

She shrugged, but a pout did appear on her face. “He was wearing a Suppressor and the other guy just screamed supernatural. How could I’ve known?”

 

Tony wanted to laugh out loud. Did they mistake Gibbs for a shifter? He would have been safe if he stayed the fuck away from his Boss’ house? Considering that Tim couldn’t drink because of the antibiotics, they would have been all safe if he had stayed the fuck away. Unbelievable! Seriously!

 

“You sure that that the vampire doesn’t own him? I don’t want another property battle! The last one was bad enough!” the male huffed still eyeing him.

 

“He is not trained!” The woman smirked. Her eyes called the guy all kind of stupid.

 

“In that case,” the man snapped his fingers. Tony felt the air shift behind him. He growled menacingly as two sets of hands reached under his armpits and he was hauled to his feet. The wall on his right moved revealing a door to another room. Did these bastards clone their bases? The last one had been exactly the same!

 

“Let’s get this show on the road!” 


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Team and the FBI work together and against time to stop the Horde and save Tony. In the darkest hour helps comes from several ways and in several forms!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone! Sorry for the very long delay! I had my very last exam and finally, I'm off into the Big Bad World! This is the same reason why I could answer your lovely comments, but I'll try to do it now! Thank you for all! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

_I do what I need to_   
_What I have to_

_(Stay Alive - Hidden Citizens)_

 

  
Tim woke with a start. He flinched away from the pair of hazel eyes that were looking at him through round glasses. Palmer pulled back his hand that had been probably shaking him awake a few minutes ago.

 

"Sorry!" Jimmy apologized. "Coffee?"

 

There was a tray placed on the coffee table next to the couch on which Tim had been sleeping. There was a full pot of coffee, a wrapped sandwich and something that looked lemonadish on the tray. Tim's stomach rumbled loudly and he all but lunged for the sandwich.

 

"Thanks!" he sighed. "Wait... Are you wearing gloves?"

 

Jimmy looked down at his hands like he needed confirmation.

 

“Oh. Erm…. I have to be careful with water… you know.” Jimmy explained as he nodded towards the lemonade looking thing.

 

“Damn! Yeah! Smart!” Tim rubbed his face as he tried to wake up fully. “What are the others doing?”

 

“Abby is working on a spell. Dr. Mallard and Agent Fornell are trying to short out the files you brought with yourselves from Ms. Audley. Agent Todd drove the ambulance here and she is rechecking it with Agent Gibbs.” Palmer reported.

 

“And I have fallen asleep…” Tim hissed.

 

“There is nothing wrong with needing sleep!” Jimmy said with a frown. “Every one of us has needs. Different yes, but we all have them!”

 

“Well, I think Tony has needs too and I’m pretty sure getting away from the vamps who are trying to force him to become feral is one of them!” Tim shot back. He glared at his laptop that sat innocently on the coffee table. He had been trying to find something on the two leader vamps, but there was nothing! According to the internet, those two had never existed.

 

“And what could you do? I don’t think you can do anything right now.” Jimmy hit the sore point head on. Tim knew that he was right, but hearing it coming from someone else’s mouth hurt. So, he glared.

 

"I didn't mean it like that!" Jimmy held up his hands in surrender. He usually had a problem with being tactful, everyone knew that. "I - What I've been trying to tell you, is that there will be times when you'll be the only one who will be able to do something. Till then, you need to rest, eat and be there for the others."

 

"I'll be the only one?" Tim blinked. "What do you mean?"

 

Jimmy shrugged, then fidgeted with his glasses. "There are things only humans can do. You'll see."

 

***

 

He found Abby in one of the studies of Ducky's house. The building was huge, maze-like and full of books. He had to move around very carefully to avoid starting a book-avalanche.

 

The room that Abby had chosen for herself was something else. There were sigils painted on the walls, the floor and holy hell, the ceiling! Tim gaped at the strange forms above him. How had she managed that? Her platform shoes were huge, but not that huge!

 

"These are protection symbols," Abby spoke up. She was standing next to a table that had been placed in the middle of the room. There was a huge bowl in front of her, several candles, books and who knows whats.

 

What caught Tim's attention though was her voice. It sounded different. Not Abby like at all. It lacked her trademark vibrating energy. She sounded hollow.

 

"Abby..." Tim trailed off. What could he say? He knew the emotion that was eating her up from the inside. There were no words that could make it better. Tony waltzing into the house alive, well and grinning, yeah, that would. Nothing else.

 

"My spells keep failing." Abby breathed. Tim stepped into the room and cautiously walked up to her.

 

"Coffee? I think you could use one. I don't think that Ducky has any Caf-Pow, but caffeine is caffeine, right?" He smiled weakly.

 

"I ... No." Abby shook her head. "But water would be good. Can you please bring me some?"

 

"Come to the kitchen. You need a break." Tim repeated Jimmy's advice to her. Just like how he had before, she started shaking her head immediately.

 

"Abby. Five minutes. A glass of water. Then you'll be back and maybe, all you need is a clear head."

 

He ignored the fact how much of a hypocrite he was when Abby nodded after another moment of hesitation. After all, he had concluded that Palmer was probably right.   


***

 

_Are shifters masochists?_

 

A witch had asked him this once. That had been the very same witch who had created his suppressor. She was powerful, but nothing like Abby. She had been cold and calculating. But her questions and snarky comments had been spot on.  


So, were shifters masochists?

 

Pain is a constant in a shifter's life. How could it not be? During a shift, every bone in his body has to break to rearrange themselves in their new form. However, that pain was a different kind of pain, than the one he was experiencing in his new predicament. The pain of a shifting is accompanied by lots of other feelings. Tristan had tried to explain it to him way back then, but he had been young, angry and impatient. Hormones and reflex loops of his nervous system couldn't hold his attention for long.

 

Even now, the pain wasn't the worst thing. The stress on his body was. The surest way to drive a shifter feral was through pushing his/her body to the limit where the survival instinct comes to the front, while everything else just disappears.

 

He had been there once, he knew that. That time, he didn't know what had happened, but somehow he had gotten lucky. He couldn't count on that again.

 

Heavyweight settled on his mind and his thoughts just... blinked out. For a few moments or maybe more, there was nothing. There was just white noise. No coherent thought could form in his mind. Then he blinked...

 

There was an ugly crack in the ceiling. He let out a long breath through his nose. That pause didn’t mean anything good. Dissociative fugue was nothing to joke about especially for him.

 

Especially now.

 

***

 

Gibbs followed Kate into the building. They had just finished combing through the stolen ambulance when Tim had rushed out to them. It seemed like that Abby had found a spell that could lead them to the witch that had created the suppressor. That sounded like a win. He really needed a win! The search of the ambulance ended without a clue. There was nothing in there.

 

Except of course the lingering trace of Tony. Its intensity though brought up a hell of an avalanche of questions that his Second would need to answer.

 

He all but ripped off his gloves and threw them into the trashcan. He stepped into Abby’s room after Tim and noted that everyone else had gathered there. Abby’s eyes found him. He saw the witch behind those pretty green eyes, but there was no sign of the girl that usually resided in there. He hated to see her like this, but there was nothing he could do about it. Not yet. Tony’s situation was way worse than her. It was a horrible kind of a triage.

 

She was still animated as she spoke. She explained to them how the spell would first zero on the other witch’s magic and with an added location spell, it would lead them to her (or him. There are druids out there too).

 

“Let’s hope that she isn’t that good with protection spells.” Abby finished as she rubbed her hands together.

 

They watched as she stepped to the table and worked her magic. Her voice sounded different when she chanted. It resonated with magic that came deep down from her core. True magic like that couldn’t be learned. You have to be born with it.

 

There was a map in front of her that caught on fire. They all stared as it burnt slowly.

 

Till it disappeared completely.

 

The silence that followed was heavy and dreadful.

 

“What happened?” Tim asked. He sounded like a child who had seen something bad that he couldn’t comprehend. The emotion was accurate.  
Abby’s lip trembled as she slowly raised her eyes. She looked straight at Gibbs.

 

“She is good with protection spells.” she choked out.

 

She darted past them with a strange sound. Gibbs was following her without his brain truly registering his body’s movements. Abby crashed to her knees in front of the trashcan that was still holding Gibbs’ disregarded rubber gloves. Her whole body tensed and fought the heaves that were brought front by the stress of the failed spell. Her mind’s cruel punishment for her supposed failure.

 

Gibbs wrapped his arms around her, not restricting, but comforting. He whispered words to her that he himself didn’t believe till her body relaxed.

 

“I don't- I- I don’t! Gibbs! I don’t know!” she sobbed into his shirt.

 

Gibbs didn’t know either. And that was the worst thing.

 

He rocked her for a few more minutes. Exactly till the doorbell rang and broke the horrible silence over the house.

 

“Oh my! Who could that be?”

 

Ducky was standing next to the two huddled form on the ground. Gibbs didn’t know when he had arrived, which was mildly concerning. The Owl Spirit handed him a glass of water that he took without a word and he gave it to Abby.

 

He watched as Ducky opened the front door wide. Ducky’s house was probably the most protected place on Earth. There were protection sigils everywhere. No supernatural creature could enter without Ducky’s consent. And a human couldn’t kill Ducky, so there was that. Gibbs wasn’t that concerned.

 

Surprise was a whole another thing as his eyes fell on the two creatures that stood on Ducky’s porch. Audley’s lipstick covered lips curved into an elegant smile.

 

“Good evening, Agent Gibbs!”

 

***

 

Tim felt instant relief as Ducky ushered Victoria and Will into his house. Not a whole day had passed since he had last seen the pair and he couldn’t possibly imagine what could have made the woman bring Will to them, but Victoria seemed to have a glint in her eyes and Will was clutching a book to his chest.

 

“You are a very interesting bunch of people!” Victoria mused as Palmer handed her a cup of tea. Will shied away from him, but it didn’t faze Jimmy. He put the other cup down on the coffee table then backed away slowly. A few minutes later Will reached for the hot beverage hesitantly.

 

“Did you find something?” Gibbs asked. His tense voice and Abby’s huddled form against his side was a harsh reminder of their current situation.

 

“I personally didn’t,” Victoria replied and took a tiny sip of her tea. Her hand touched Will’s shoulder. “But Will has a potential solution.”

 

The skittish shiftling curled in on himself as all eyes turned on him, but before any of the hard and edgy vamps could open their mouths, Ducky stepped in. The old Spirit positioned himself between the group and the shiftling and with a gentle and playful tone, he started a story. Tim had lost track of it around the ‘I remember, when…’. However, the effect of it on the shiftling was visible. Will’s shoulders slowly lost their stiffness and his head rose gradually.

 

“When I was still a human,” the boy spoke softly when Ducky stopped. Victoria rubbed his back encouragingly. “I- I lived in a small village. Our people believed, that there was a creature that would protect us from harm. Our guardian, you know?”

 

“Oh, I heard legends about that!” Ducky spoke brightly. “You are talking about a shifter if I’m not mistaken?”

 

Will nodded enthusiastically.

 

“There was a ritual we did whenever we needed protection.” the boy spoke directly to the Spirit. It seemed that ignoring everyone else made things a lot easier for him. “This spell led us to him wherever he was. When… we- we lost the village, I grabbed the Book. I- I have the spell in it.”

 

He offered it to Ducky, who took it gently, making sure that he didn’t touch the boy.

 

Abby approached them and pried the book out of Ducky’s fingers who was still expressing his gratitude to the boy with a gentle tone. Her green eyes scanned the old and yellow page in front of her. However, Tim’s hope wasn’t mirrored on her face.

 

“Abby? Talk to us!” Gibbs ordered, although his voice was still as gentle as it could get.

 

“This spell…” Abby trailed off. She seemed to reread it. “We need lots of things. Rare things. Some almost impossible.”

 

“But you can do it, right?”

 

“First of all, I can’t do it. It has to be Timmy.”

 

Tim felt all eyes turn towards him. He stared back at Abby with shock. Him?

 

“What?” he squawked.

 

“This spell is a cry for help from humans to a shifter. You know, shifters always felt the need to protect you all. Just like how the Story says. Therefore, it has to be you.” Abby explained.

 

Tim glanced at Will. The shiftling had huddled against Victoria again, but through the thick dreadlocks, dark eyes were watching him. This explained the shiftling’s interest in Tim back at their home well enough.

 

“But this is not the problem,” Abby spoke again. “The biggest problem is Tony’s name.”

 

“His name?” Tim parroted her. What was wrong with Tony’s name?

 

“We need his real name,” Abby explained.

 

“Real? What?” Tim looked around.

 

“His shifter name, am I right?” Victoria spoke.

 

Abby nodded uneasily.

 

“Can someone explain, please?” Tim huffed exasperatedly.

 

“Shifters have two names. One, that they use in human society, is given by their father. The other one, their shifter name, is given by their mother. It’s very private. It’s only whispered to them at nighttime after a lullaby. They don’t share it recklessly.” Victoria explained.

 

“Oh, shit!” Tim mumbled. He rubbed his face with his palms, willing the stress and fatigue away. Tony hadn’t even shared the fact that he is a shifter with them. There was no way he had somehow revealed his shifter name to anyone.

 

“The other ingredients? Can you get everything else?” Gibbs demanded from the Witch.

 

Abby scanned the page again. She nodded hesitantly. “It won’t be easy, but I know someone who can help.”

 

“Good!” Gibbs nodded. “McGee, Kate! Go with her. I’ll be back!”

 

“Where are you going, Jethro?” Ducky asked with a frown.

 

Gibbs paused his stride in front of the front door.

 

“I’m gonna find out DiNozzo’s name.”

 

“And how do ya plan to do that?” Fornell huffed.

 

“Somehow!”

 

***

 

Agent Zack Oswald got out of their company car and waited for his partner. On the other side of their vehicle, Bertha was fiddling with her black skirt. It didn’t matter how hard she tried, she could never manage the elegant FBI look. She always ended up looking awkward. Zack smirked to himself but didn’t comment on it this time. Once Bertha had thrown a chair at him for his troubles. Instead, he turned his attention to their surroundings. Their next to was another cheap and shady looking bar. The umpteenth since Fornell had called him with their new assignment. Apparently, another shifter had been taken by the Horde, one that Fornell knew himself and the dreaded name of Leroy Jethro Gibbs had been heard too.

 

Zack sneered to himself. He was a born vampire. His clan had been traditional assholes. Even his family had kept a shifter. Zack had hated the whole situation passionately from a very young age. So, when the Elders prohibited the ownership of shifters, he had been the first to report his clan to them and watched from the sidelines as the punishment had been given out. However, it hadn't saved Saccharo. She had died of malnourishment and the abuse that had been inflicted on her. Zack had never gotten over that. Probably never would.

 

"Hey! Are you awake?" Bertha smacked him on his arm. "Keep your head in the game!"

 

"Keeping it! Keeping it!" Zack muttered as he entered the bar.

 

He scanned the people inside for traces. He found six vampires. It didn't mean anything though. Vampires were the most common supernatural creatures and in a huge city like this, running into them was probable. However, the bartender didn't have any kind of trace and didn't have that strange vibe that was characteristic of suppressor users. So, a human, which worked for their favor.

 

"Hi, there!" Zack called out and discreetly showed him his badge.

 

The guy nodded knowingly. "What can I help you with?"

 

"Have you seen them?" Zack asked as Bertha placed the photo of Stella Hassel and Mathias Thornton onto the counter. The bartender hummed to himself as he studied them.

 

"Her? Unfortunately no. Pretty thing! But him? Yes. He and some other guys came here few days ago. One of his buddies is still here. That guy back, near the door, at the corner table."

 

Zack followed the bartender's gaze. The guy who he was talking about looked like a young grandfather. He was grey haired and had soft wrinkles around kind looking dark eyes. Moreover, he fitted the description of one of the Horde members that had taken the shifter. Closer inspection revealed that his watch gave out the characteristic vibe of a suppressor. Zack glanced at Bertha, who met his eyes.

 

"Can I use the bathroom?" she asked the bartender.

 

"Of course! It's back there."

 

Zack gave a bill for the bartender's help, then made his way to the vamp. The guy was alone which worked for them just fine. Zack placed himself between the man and everyone else.

 

"Hello, there!" He greeted him. "Can we talk?"

 

As the other vampire raised his head, Zack allowed his eyes to change color. Not that it really mattered as he hated using suppressors.

 

Something changed in the other guy's eyes too. The muscles tightened around the dark orbs and something dangerous took the place of the false kindness. The guy gave him a jerky nod and rose to his feet. No one paid them attention as they left the building, not even the other vampires.

 

They stopped in the farthest corner of the parking lot and the man turned to face Zack. His posture looked relaxed, but the FBI agent knew that he was anything but that.

 

"What can I help you with," the guy cocked his head to the side and his eyes narrowed. "Agent?"

 

A muscle twitched on Zack's face at the cocky tone.

 

"Just routine questioning. I'm Agent Oswald and you are?"

 

The guy hummed.

 

"I don't like answering questions."

 

"In that case, I have to take you in." Zack shrugged. "Maybe you should reconsider on our way.

 

"What about no?"

 

In a blink of an eye, the guy was on top of Zack. The agent's supernatural reflexes saved his life. He didn't manage to block the knife that was aimed at his heart, but he did shift its course and it went straight into his right shoulder. Zack hissed through the burning pain that seemed to spread across his chest and through his arm.

 

"Your Blessed Knife? You son of a bitch!" he gritted out. Every vampire had a Blessed Knife, even the not true-blooded ones. The vampires had to create them during the acceptance ceremony in front of the Elders. One of the most well-known thing about Blessed Knives was that they were as deadly to vampires were as wooden stakes. And it was prohibited to attack each other with them.

 

The guy sneered at him, then yanked the knife out. He moved to attack again, but he froze in the middle of the movement. His dark eyes that were glowing with vampire trace widened almost comically. The next moment he crumbled to the ground. Zack stared at Bertha who stood behind the fallen form. She was holding a syringe in her hand triumphantly.

 

"Dead man's blood!" she announced brightly.

 

Zack pressed his left hand on the wound on his shoulder.

 

"Awesome. Now, call Fornell."

 

***

 

"This snow is ridiculous," Tim commented as he got out of the car. His legs sank into the fresh snow and it reached almost the half of his calf. Of course, it got into his shoes. He'd have a terrible night, he just knew it. The two girls though ignored his misery. Abby straightened her coat nervously as she eyed the innocent looking herbal store in front of them. At least her platform shoes kept her socks dry and clean.

 

"Okay, so, Aaliyah can be a bit... much." she rambled. "But inside, deep, like very very deep, she is a nice person. Or close to it. Niceish?"

 

"We will follow your lead, Abby," Kate patted her shoulder.

 

The scientist sighed with defeat. "Just... don't overreact."

 

"Don't oversell her," Tim muttered as he fell into step behind the two girls. Abby walked up to the door and placed her palm on the wooden surface. She murmured foreign words softly and sigils started to appear around her hand. Then the door seemed to disintegrate.

 

"Erm... Abby?" Tim gaped. He didn't know a lot about witches, but he suspected that destroying someone else's door was rude.

 

"Come on!" Abby ushered them inside.

 

The heavy scent of herbals hit Tim with full force. Dried flowers and leaves were put on display everywhere. Any other surface that wasn't covered with plants, were occupied by crystals in every color and shape. They sparkled in the light of the numerous candles that were placed strategically around.

 

"This place is amazing!" he breathed. He was aware that he probably looked ridiculous in his open-mouthed wonder, but he couldn't care.

 

"And what the fuck do you want?" someone huffed at them.

 

Tim spun towards the sound just to come face to face with a teenager. She flicked an almost white lock of hair out of her face and she continued her glaring at them. The effect was ruined though by the bubble gum she kept chewing on.

 

"Hello, Aaliyah," Abby greeted her. "We need a few things. I hoped you might be able to help us out with them."

 

Aaliyah took the offered list from Abby but didn't glance at the goth. Her dark eyes were busy giving Kate _the Look_.

 

"You might just get a discount!" she winked at the sputtering woman. Tim a placed a hand on Kate's shoulder.

 

"Don't overreact!" He whispered. It might have sounded a little bit gleeful.

 

Aaliyah walked around the counter and she started going through the list.

 

"What the hell are you trying to do?" she hissed. She looked up sharply and glared at Abby.

 

"A shifter finding spell? It's kinda ancient." Abby explained. She started rocking on her very high heels.

 

"Shifter finding spell?!" the teenager hissed. "Are you out of your mind? What the fuck do you need a shifter for?"

 

"Do you have the items?" Kate asked sharply. "The rest is not your business!"

 

Aaliyah blinked at her. After a moment of awkward silence, a slow grin started to form on her lips.

 

"Well, what a biter you are! Give me a minute." She rechecked the list. "Make it an hour."

 

"Maybe overreacting was just the right way to go?" Tim mused.

 

Abby's pointy elbow collided with his side.

 

***

 

Gibbs kept up the pretense of human speed as he hurried up the stairs. The spell needed Tony's shifter name. He had no clue if there was anything that could help them out, but the apartment was their best bet.

 

He stepped into the corridor that led to Tony's apartment, then he froze. Just next to the door, Tony's door, a man sat on the ground. His long legs were stretched out in front of him. Disturbingly long fingers held a book in front of him and ridiculously long hair covered half of his face.

 

And he was eating rainbow-colored candy...

 

However, all of that wouldn't have been enough to stop Gibbs in his tracks. But the trace that surrounded the guy was. Now, that he finally knew what he was looking for, he could detect not one, but three suppressors on the man's wrist. It was not all, though. The man's trace was leaking out still.

 

It was a shifter's trace.

 

The man looked up and hazel eyes zeroed on Gibbs' blue ones.

 

"Oh, pardon me!" the rumbling of his deep voice filled the corridor. The guy moved and got to his feet. He towered over Gibbs even more than how usually Tony does. He was a giant! His trace moved too, it became almost suffocating. Gibbs barely stopped himself from taking a step back. Barely...

 

The man scratched his stubble on his face and he cocked his head to the side.

 

"You are Agent Gibbs if I'm not mistaken?"

 

Gibbs gave him a jerky nod. His vampire side was forcing itself to the front as it reacted to the presence of the powerful shifter. Could it be that he was facing an Alpha? That would be very bad news for Gibbs. Very bad...

 

"My name is Tristan." the man continued. "Tony surely mentioned me, right?"

 

Gibbs shook his head.

 

Tristan groaned and stared at the ceiling.

 

"Stupid, Pup! By the way, I'm not an Alpha. I'm just very old!" he smirked.

 

That was a slightly better news for Gibbs, but still. The fact that he seemed to know what was going in the vampire's head didn't go undetected either.

 

"So?" Tristan pulled another candy out of his pocket and flicked it into his mouth. "What did the Pup get himself into this time?"

 

"The Horde got him," Gibbs spoke finally.

 

Tristan's eyes narrowed and Gibbs thought for a moment that he would attack. After all, a vampire telling you that your fellow shifter was taken by the Horde looked kinda bad. However, Tristan didn't attack. He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands.

 

"Damn!" he huffed. "I was late. Came to warn him about them, you know."

 

An idea occurred to Gibbs. Tristan acted civil towards him so far and he seemed to know things about Tony. Maybe something good could come out of that encounter.

 

"Do you know Tony's shifter name?" he asked.

 

Tristan took a deep breath through his nose. Something Tony did often. Now, that he paid attention, Gibbs realized that they were smelling him. Shifters can smell emotions and a powerful one like Tristan could probably smell a lie. So, Gibbs stuck with honesty.

 

"We have a spell that could lead us to him. But we need that name."

 

Tristan watched for another moment, then he smiled a smile full of dimples.

 

"Well, that sounds interesting! Show me the way, fellow Vamp!"

 

As Gibbs turned on his heels and allowed the shifter to follow him, he concluded that this was something new even for him. It seemed old dogs (vamps) can still learn new tricks.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abby's spell wasn't as ineffective as she thought. Mathias has a not pleasant surprise and the rest of the group meets Tristan.

_I do what I need to_   
_What I have to To survive_

_(Stay Alive - Hidden Citizens)_

 

Mathias loosened his tie with a groan as the lift made its way up towards the highest floor. Stella had been adamant about throwing a fancy party for their richest customers. She loved partying, while he hated it. So, they had compromised and had thrown a party. At least she looked really pretty in her red dress. It had been the only thing that had kept him sane through the night, which he had spent mostly by chatting with Wayne O. Casey. A fucking Elder! Mathias snorted to himself. Oh, those fucking hypocrites!

 

The lift came to a halt and the doors opened directly into his office. He froze after the first step. Stella was sprawled out on the couch and she was drinking his most expensive whiskey from a wine glass.

 

Except it wasn’t Stella.

 

“Shaunda!” he hissed threateningly. “What the hell are you doing here?”

 

Great! Stella hated when he and the witch met up without her. She was the jealous type. Very jealous! There was no chance in hell that he could hide the woman’s trace. Stella always finds out. He couldn’t see any sex in his near future… Fucking witch!

 

The Not-Stella got to her feet lazily and approached him, while she swayed her hips way too much.

 

"We could have some fun, Mathias!" She purred. She batted her eyelashes at him over her glass, while she sipped the very expensive whiskey.

 

"Drop the act, Shaunda! Now!"

 

The witch rolled her eyes, but finally, her form shimmered. The blond hair turned flaming red, Stella's tall form shrunk and the blue eyes turned violet.

 

"You, Mathias, are not fun!" Shaunda pouted.

 

"What do you want?" Mathias demanded again.

 

Shaunda placed the glass on the big mahogany table but kept her tiny fingers on it. She watched the golden liquid thoughtfully.

 

"I want a lot's of things, but you keep refusing that one thing you can give me."

 

It was Mathias' time to roll his eyes. "Vampires mate for life."

 

"It doesn't mean you can't have some fun! I'm pretty sure that your lovely Stella is having that certain fun right now! There must be a reason she didn't follow your home!"

 

"Drop the subject!" Mathias reached for the whiskey bottle. It was already open after all. He poured a good amount of it into a proper glass and almost swallowed down all of it in one go. "The reason behind your visit, Shaunda?"

 

"I'm leaving." Shaunda shrugged. "Thought you'd want to know."

 

"You are doing what?" Mathias snapped. "You think I'll allow that?"

 

Shaunda raised her right hand and made a fist. Mathias felt his lungs constrict in his chest. He clawed uselessly at his sternum, but there was nothing he could do against the dark magic. He sank to his knees as he gapped at the woman, who watched him impassionately.

 

"Allow me? Who do you think you are, Boy?" Shaunda spoke lowly. "No one makes me do anything. I do what I want! I am over four hundreds years old! I survived witch hunts, world wars, the Great War! And you? Without your precious Stella, you'd be a nameless corpse on a nameless battlefield! A resident in a mass grave! You? You want to order me around? Don't forget, I have worked with the Horde even before you were a human toddler! Worked with! Never worked for! Look at yourself! You don't even need to breathe, but you are useless against a weak little spell like this!"

 

She uncurled her fingers and her hold over Mathias disappeared. He took a deep breath, not because he needed it, but as she had painfully pointed out, he had been a human before his turning. He allowed himself few more seconds to orient himself, then he slowly rose to his feet.

 

"Why are you leaving?" he asked quietly.

 

Shaunda took the bottle and poured herself another round. She pulled her dress down enough that her right collarbone became visible. There was an ugly burn there.

 

"This used to be my protection symbol," she explained. She ran a finger lightly over the burnt flesh. "Do you know what this means?"

 

Mathias shook his head. After their little incident, he decided being safe than sorry was way better.

 

"My home burnt down too." She added. She rose the glass to her lips and sipped the golden liquid. "It was a witch. A powerful location spell has been launched against me. One of your fuckers had screwed up!"

 

Mathias frowned at her accusing glare. "What?"

 

"One of you lost a suppressor and it got into the wrong hands. It's just a matter of time and they will be onto me. I'm not waiting it out."

 

She pushed the wine glass away from herself and grabbed a bag off the couch. Mathias didn't stop her as she made her way towards the lift. She paused though as the door opened in front of her.

 

"I like you, Mathias," she spoke as she turned. "You are just the right kind of sick. So, I give you a warning. No one lives as long as I without an ear for intuition. So, accept this from me. The last thing you'll see before you die will be a pair of red-golden eyes. Ciao, Honey!"

 

She stepped into the lift and disappeared behind the closing door, leaving the stunned vampire behind. Two or maybe three minutes ticked by and suddenly Stella, the real Stella was there in his face screaming her rage at him.

 

"What did that bitch want?"

 

Mathias blinked at her. "Oh, Hi, Honey!"

 

"Do not Hi, Honey me! What. Did. That. Bitch. Want?" she got closer and closer. Sighing Mathias pushed her back gently.

 

"She came here to tell us that she is leaving."

 

"She what?" Stella snapped. "Why didn't you stop her?"

 

Mathias gave her an annoyed glare as he rubbed his sternum. "She is a powerful witch, you know..."

 

Stella growled and turned away from him. She started pacing in the office, damaging the expensive rug with her high heels. Mathias turned his attention back to the whiskey bottle.

 

"She served the Horde for so many years. What could have spooked her that much?" Stella was thinking aloud.

 

Mathias gulped down a shot of the golden liquid and allowed the burn to ease his mind a bit.

 

"She said something about another witch and location spells. She's been targeted."

 

Stella stopped and turned towards him. There was the familiar glint in her eyes which made Mathias role his eyes. Here it comes again...

 

"A protection spell strong enough to spook her?" she breathed. "Do you know what this means?"

 

"That there are stronger witches out there than her? Maybe we should hire this one."

 

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Mathias! Think!" Stella appeared in front of him and fisted her long fingers in his shirt. Her German accent got stronger and stronger as her excitement rose. "Think! That shifter downstairs is an Original. What does that mean?"

 

"That his Mommy and Daddy were both shifters?" Mathias supplied.

 

"Yes! Come on! He is one of the last few of his kind! Who do you think would be interested enough in his safety to send a powerful witch after us?" She asked. Her eyes changed color, they started glowing in a very light blue color.

 

"The vampire from whom we stole him?"

 

"The Alpha, you moron!"

 

Oh, there it was. Stella's true obsession. The Alpha Shifter. At least the current one. The oldest shifter alive. Through the years Stella had gotten it into her head that they could capture and train it. Mathias knew better, but who was he to take away his love's dreams?

 

"The Alpha!" Stella breathed with a glazed look in her eyes.

 

***

 

"I'm not the Alpha..." the huge man that had followed Gibbs to Ducky's house spoke tentatively. He was holding his hands up in surrender and he was making such an impressive set of puppy dog eyes, that Tim's cold-hearted father would have melted at the sight.

 

Well, he had tougher audience in their group.

 

Just after they had gotten back from Aaliyah's, Fornell had gotten a call from his vampire agents. It looked like that they had captured a member of the Horde. It turned out Ducky had a very securely warded basement under his house, so, on Fornell's order, they had secured their prisoner down there. Bertha, the female vampire, had been tasked with guarding, a job that she had taken very reluctantly.

 

"They are a pair," Fornell had explained as he had nodded at Zack. The injured vampire had been forced to lay on the couch, while Ducky had tended to his wound. As Tim had found out, wounds that had been caused by a Blessed Knife were to be taken very seriously. Fornell had started debriefing the man, partly to distract him from the pain. There was no painkiller that worked on vampires.

 

They had been in the middle of the report when Gibbs had arrived with the... man.

 

The change had been instant. As soon as the man had stopped at the threshold, Zack had jumped over the back of the couch and hadn't stopped till he had ended up huddled against the furthest wall while clutching at his wounded shoulder. In the same time, Fornell had flown forward with a hiss in order to protect his subordinate. And Tim had found himself sandwiched between Abby and Will, with Victoria crouching in front of them, ready to bounce and Kate, also in front of them, holding a gun. The only one who hadn't moved was Ducky, who had been staring at the newcomer in wonder. Jimmy had positioned himself behind the doctor, with a water bottle held threateningly in his hands.

 

"Everybody! Stand down!" Gibbs roared over the chaos. "Palmer! Put that fucking bottle down!"

 

Jimmy jumped a little in surprise but put it down obediently.

 

"Gibbs! What's going on?" Fornell hissed. He didn't relax his tense posture, only his eyes flickered towards Gibbs.

 

"I'm a shifter!" the giant man declared proudly as he smiled a smile full of dimples. Then he turned his gaze towards Zack, cocked his head to the side as a frown took over the handsome features. "Hey there, Fellow Vamp! That smells painful. And bloody. You should do something about it?"

 

"Gibbs?" Fornell demanded.

 

"He is here to help. His name is Tristan." Gibbs explained impatiently.

 

"Boss? Are you sure this is not the other shifter? My shifter?" Tim had to ask. Everyone around him acted like Lucifer himself had arrived on Earth.

 

"I'm sure." Gibbs nodded. "The trace is completely different."

 

Tristan, who was still not allowed to enter, started rocking back and forth on the ball of his feet and started eating... was that Skittles?

 

Ducky seemed to overcome his shocked wonder and hurried to the door.

 

"Oh, where are my manners! Please, co---"

 

"Do not invite him in!" Fornell roared. His eyes were glowing, his whole body trembled and his fangs grew out. Compared to the innocent looking guy at the door, that was the more terrifying sight, Tim decided.

 

"Tobias!" Gibbs spoke again. His tone was more shooting than harsh this time. "Stand down! He is not a threat."

 

Victoria rose slowly to her feet. Tim noted that her fingers were trembling slightly. However, her posture became perfectly straight again, face held high, just like a queen from the old times. She bowed a little at the man at the door.

 

"Please forgive my impoliteness. Your trace is quite ... shocking." she spoke to Tristan.

 

"No worries!" the man grinned.

 

Victoria then approached Fornell whom Gibbs tried to calm down unsuccessfully.

 

"Agent Fornell. He is not a threat," she repeated Gibbs' words. "Look at your man! He was injured by a Blessed Knife. He needs your help."

 

Fornell's eyes found Zack who sat by the wall clutching his bleeding shoulder. The stitches that had been put in by Ducky had been ripped open again and he was losing blood. As it had been explained by the Spirit before, wounds caused by a Blessed Knife acted the same as human ones.

 

The ashen sight of Zack seemed to snap Fornell back to reality. He shook his whole body, just like a wet dog and his eyes snapped back to the shifter.

 

Who was still eating Skittles cheerfully.

 

"I apologize for my behavior. Doctor Mallard, please, invite him in," he said, then he hurried to his fallen man's side, helping him back to the couch.

 

"Please, come in!" Ducky smiled at the man. Tristan thanked him with a grin and stepped into the building. Something heavy settled over Tim. Could that be that the man's presence had an effect even on him?

 

Tristan froze after his first step. He visibly sniffed the air, then his eyes snapped to Will.

 

"A Baby!" the noise that left his mouth sounded dangerously like a girly squeal. He moved to rush towards the shiftling but Will let out a whimper and hid behind Tim. Tristan stopped in his movements and glanced at Victoria questioningly. He seemed to know instinctively that the two are connected. Tim found it very fascinating.

 

"He is half trained." the female vampire told the shifter softly, her eyes turning sad. "He is easy to startle."

 

Tristan pulled back his hands, folded his arms around his chest and gave them the saddest kicked puppy dog eyes Tim had ever seen. Which was something considering that he has a younger sister...

 

"I'm harmless!" the shifter swore. He got several snorts from the group around him.

 

Ducky restarted his efforts on Zack. He stitched up the shoulder again.

 

"You, my Dear Boy, need blood!" the Spirit. "Mr. Palmer, would you please?"

 

Jimmy nodded eagerly and hurried out of the living room, into the kitchen.

 

"A gremlin!" Tristan mused aloud. "The Pup was right! You are a remarkable group of people"

 

"Pup?" Fornell asked with a raised eyebrow. He turned to Gibbs. "Who is this guy actually?"

 

"He is a shifter who knows DiNozzo." Gibbs recited the only fact that he knew about Tristan. He looked really annoyed by the constant questions. "He knows his real name."

 

"Only you, Jethro!" Ducky chuckled as he wrapped a gauze around Zack's shoulder. "You go out to find a name then you come back with a shifter!"

 

"It wasn't intentional," Gibb grumbled. Tristan just beamed at them. After that Gibbs finally managed to demand the information concerning Zack's injury. The moment the word captured Horde member left Fornell's mouth, Gibbs went ballistic.

 

"Why didn't you start with that?" he roared. Actually roared. It sent Will almost flying to Victoria with a pitiful whimper. Tim watched as Tristan instinctively started moving towards the shiftling, but stopped himself in a second. The giant man wrapped his arms around himself and took a step back. The pout on his face was almost hilarious enough to make Tim laugh out loudly.

 

"I wanted to, but you brought him here!" Fornell snapped back at the silver-haired vampire as he nodded towards Tristan. "Excuse me if I ended up a bit distracted!"

 

"Did it even occur to you that he could know where they hold Tony?" Gibbs growled. "That maybe we wouldn't need that spell?"

 

"I can find it out!" Tristan volunteered. There was something dangerous in his eyes that made Tim shudder. Something in the air, what the human guessed was the shifter's presence or trace as the others called it grew heavy. It was almost hard to breathe. The vamps must have felt it too because each of them straightened their posture.

 

"I don't think..." Fornell started, but Tristan cut him off.

 

"Just give me five minutes with him."

 

***

 

In the end, it was decided that Gibbs and Tristan would interrogate the Horde member. Of course, no one had thought about warning Bertha before the pair had headed down to the basement. Few minutes later she appeared in the living room looking flustered and shaken to the core.

 

"So, you met him!" Zack grinned at her from his position on the couch. He was sipping his bloody cocktail that had been made by Jimmy.

 

"That... That!" Bertha gaped and waved with her arms at the basement door. "Wha--- Who is that?"

 

"He is not the Alpha," Fornell said dryly. He looked very unhappy ever since it had been decided that he was not going down to the basement to be part of the interrogation. But he too had admitted that Tony belongs to Gibbs and therefore the right was his. Tristan was another story. No vampire was going to say no to him.

 

"Are you sure?" Bertha sounded high pitched. "If this is not the Alpha, what could and Alpha be like?"

 

"Very strong?" Zack offered with a goofy smile. He beamed at the cocktail in his hand. "Wooow! This makes me loopy!"

 

Ducky smiled warmly at him. "Unicorn blood has this side effect, I'm afraid."

 

"Cool!" Zack giggled.

 

"That is..." Fornell started with a raised eyebrow, then he sighed defeatedly "I'm not commenting. Not even asking."

 

"Wise, my friend!" Ducky grinned.

 

Silence fell upon them as they waited. No sound came up from the basement, after all, according to Ducky, it was soundproofed. Tim watched the old clock on the wall, counting the five minutes. Rationally he knew that it was just a figure of speech on Tristan's part, but at least it gave him something to do. To his shock, the second the five minutes were up, the basement door opened and Tristan marched out followed by Gibbs.

 

"So?" Fornell asked as he shot to his feet.

 

A strange sound escaped through Tristan's lips, that Tim couldn't recognize. It was something Will usually did, when he didn't seem to be able to express his feelings through words. Everyone stilled at the sound, but the shifter ignored them. He walked to the loveseat that was placed under the window and threw himself down onto it and went back to eating Skittles.

 

"He doesn't know where Tony is," Gibbs reported. His voice sounded tense, just like how his whole body looked.

 

"That's not completely true," Tristan's deep voice rumbled through the room. "He does know, but his brain can't access the information. It's a spell. A very complex one which activates when the subject ends up in a certain situation. In our case, the capture activated it."

 

"Is it breakable?" Kate asked Abby. The Witch was curled up in one of the armchairs. She bit down on her lower lip nervously, then she shrugged.

 

"I don't know. This is something I've never done before. Even if it's possible, it'd take time." she said while she kept her gaze firmly on the floor.

 

"So, we do the other spell first," Tim spoke finally. The others seemed to sink into another hopeless pit, which they didn't have time for. They still had a plan after all.

 

"If it works..." Abby mumbled. Tim frowned at her. He knew that her failed spells affected her, but he didn't realize that she felt that hopeless. He was still thinking of a solution to her emotional problem when Tristan asked for the spell. Victoria handed him the tiny old book and showed him the spell.

 

"This should work!" he brightened at the sight. He was smiling while showing dimples again. His enthusiasm caught Abby's attention too. She rose her head, though she didn't uncurl herself from that tight ball she liked to compact herself into.

 

"How can you be so sure?" she asked.

 

Tristan held up his index finger. "First of all, this is ancient. I doubt that there are many witches who actually know about these. Not without an actual Owl Spirit!" he grinned at Ducky. His middle finger joined the other. "Second, this can't be blocked by a witch, because it's done by a human. This is..." he searched for a word. " _Privar_... Primal as you may. It depends on a very deep connection between humans and shifters. There is no place for a witch to step in."

 

"Than what are we waiting for?" Gibbs demanded.

 

Soon Tim found himself dragged into Abby's magic room. Everyone else slipped in by the time they put everything together. Abby and Will with Victoria's help led him through the summoning. They told him how to cut things up, how much to pour, what to place after what, then Abby cut his finger for that drop of blood that was needed, immediately healing up the wound.

 

"Here," Tristan handed him the ancient book with a piece of paper that had Tony's name written on it.

 

Only...

 

"I can't read this," he said frowning. Those were not human words, he assumed as he looked at the symbols in the book and on the paper. They looked more like the sigils that Abby usually used. Tristan peered over his shoulder curiously.

 

"Oops!" he laughed sheepishly and took everything back. He took another paper from Kate's sketchbook and started scribbling on it. "Here!"

 

This time he could read the words, although Tristan wrote like someone on sugar high. Maybe he was. Who knows how many Skittles had disappeared inside him?

 

"This looks like Latin," he commented.

 

"The language of the shifters, Aengarhi, is very interesting indeed," Ducky spoke up. "You are quite right, Timothy, Aengarhi and Latin are sister languages. Or maybe aunt and niece. Aengarhi is way older than Latin after all." the doctor mused.

 

"Language lesson later!" Gibbs ordered. "Spell now!"

 

Tim nodded and picked up the gemstone, a Pangdrodite that would act as a compass once the spell was finished.

 

"Wait a minute!" Victoria spoke as he was taking a big breath that would last through the foreign words. When every eye was on her, Victoria started explaining. "We should leave. Unlike the Blessed Ones, who use their shifter names all the time, for true-blooded shifters, it's very private." She looked questioningly at Tristan, who nodded in agreement.

 

"Wait!" Tim spoke. "Will is a shifter name? I thought it was short for William or something."

 

Victoria smiled kindly at the shiftling.

 

"Sadly, he has been turned in captivity and never got the chance to be named by his _Parisan_. So, I named him. I don't know Aengarhi, therefore I used English. His name means exactly that. Will." she shook her head, bringing herself back to the problem. "Still. I think we need to respect this tradition and only a selected few should hear the name."

 

There was no arguing with that. One by one everyone walked out. Even Kate and Abby.

 

"He will tell me when he is ready." the witch explained when Tim questioned her decision. However, when Gibbs moved to leave, Tristan stopped him with a gentle touch on his shoulder. The former marine nearly jumped out of his skin, which almost made Tim laugh. Only he liked livIing, so he stayed quiet.

 

Oblivious to the human's delight and the vampire's discomfort, the shifter leaned forward. "You should stay."

 

Gibbs looked like he wanted to argue, but then he seemed to fold under the intense gaze. Tim wasn't entirely sure that there was no mindreading/telepathic talk between the two. The intense staring contest before the vamp's decision suggested that.

 

So, in the end, it was only him, Gibbs and Tristan, when he spoke the words loudly.

 

_Te lych horaev á nectarsit nome siatero teisi li ta tusuola nite opatu. Itanta é emevin talla johne nobelle uta teisi, Lyvancora!_

 

The gemstone in his hand started warming and glowing. The pure, white light got stronger and stronger till it was almost blinding. Tim turned hopeful eyes to Tristan.

 

"Did it work?" he asked.

 

The shifter stared at the light seemingly mesmerized.

 

"Oh, it did alright! Here we come, Puppy!"

 

***

 

Mathias watched as the floor numbers counted down as the lift descended. The damned awful feeling deep inside him that had been brought to life by Shaunda's words hadn't left him ever since her visit.

 

_The last thing you'll see before you die will be a pair of red-golden eyes._

 

He snorted to himself. Fucking perfect!

 

After finally calming Stella down, he had decided that he needed to work off some steam and he had the perfect candidate for that. The lift's doors opened as he reached the lowest level, deep-deep underground. He walked through the security system and finally the last door opened in front of him. He approached the figure that was chained down on the rack in the middle of the room. The shifter seemed to be resting, eyes-closed, breathing even.

 

Well, he couldn't have that, could he?

 

He picked up a silver knife from the tray next to him and moved wordlessly closer to the rack. However, before he could utter a word, the shifter's eyes snapped open.

 

The silver knife fell to the floor with a loud clatter.

 

The eyes that were green before now looked red-golden.

 

_The last thing you'll see before you die will be a pair of red-golden eyes._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Privar = primal  
> Parisan= the shifter who turns a human into a shiftling  
> Te lych horaev á nectarsit nome siatero teisi li ta tusuola nite opatu. Itanta é emevin talla johne nobelle uta teisi, Lyvancora!= In our time of need we seek you out for protection and guidance. Let the first star lead us to you, Lyvancora!
> 
> Creating a language is hard... I know this chapter was kind of slow, but I needed everyone in place. However, here comes a little warning! The next one will be bloody. I usually like my stories on the horror side, so be prepared! 
> 
> Leave a comment! I love reading comments!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All Hell Break Loose...

_But I'm gonna stay alive!_

_(Hidden Citizens - Stay Alive)_

 

"You gotta be kidding!"

 

Gibbs shared the sentiment behind Fornell's words. The property to which the _Pangdrodite_ had led them belonged to no other, but Wayne O. Casey, the Third Elder. He stared at  the high, fancy gates that were protecting the property. They could barely see through the thick forest that surrounded it, although there was not a lot to see. The building that stood in front of them wasn't remarkable. But still ... it was almost glowing with vampire trace. He couldn't spot any shifter trace, familiar or not, but that didn't mean anything.

 

If this was the right place, than anything was a possibility.

 

They had parked the cars on a tiny sideroad, out of sight. The others were still waiting for them back there, even Tristan.

 

"We need a plan. Let's go!" he pulled Fornell back and they made their way carefully back to the others.

 

***

Tim watched as the others got ready. Bertha was trying to get her unruly, curly hair into a ponytail or a bun? She had swapped her skirt and blouse for jeans, boots, and a jacket. It looked better on her, than the forced and not managed elegance. Her night dark skin would help her disappear from sight if it wasn't for her glowing eyes. They had been doing that since they had left Ducky's home and Zack had to stay behind because of his injuries. According to the Codex and as it seemed to be proven in real life, mated vampires don't do well in separation. However, Bertha reassured them that it wouldn't be a problem. Though Zack would probably make a mess at Ducky's home like an unruly puppy.

 

Kate was checking and rechecking her gun and her spare ammunition. It was strange to know that the bullets were wooden, just like the ones that had been pushed into Tim's hands. It felt like going into a firefight with toys. Not a reassuring feeling. Or state of mind.

 

Victoria and Will moved a bit away from them. The vamp was fussing with the shiftling's coat, hat, and scarf. She was murmuring constantly to him probably preparing him for the separation because as she had told them back at the house, she was not staying behind. She was a force of nature in the battlefield and they were down one man already. She was not wrong.

 

However, Will stared mostly past her, maybe just half-listening to her reassurance. His attention seemed to be captured by Tristan. He finally started to relax enough in the ancient shifter's presence, that his curiosity could come forth. Tristan himself had thrown his coat back onto the back seat of their SUV, so he was only wearing a pair of black jeans and a long sleeve. He was staring blankly at the forest in front of him and he absently flicked Skittles into his mouth time to time. He didn't seem to be aware of the shiftling's attention. However, Tim was almost sure that he saw through the trees in front of him and maybe his eyes had already found their missing shifter.

 

Abby sat in the backseat of the SUV, crossed-legged and nibbling on her nails non-stop. Despite Gibbs's protest, she was adamant about coming. They needed her, as she had argued, they needed a witch on their side in a fight against another one. Gibbs hadn't had an argument against that. Well, he had tried, but he had lost. Just like with Ducky and Palmer. After all, if Abby can come than so do they.

 

At least he hadn't tried to leave Tim at home. Well, the stone wouldn't work in anyone else's hand so there was that.

 

"They are coming back," Tristan warned them as he straightened his posture. Sure enough, Gibbs and Fornell stepped out of the woods. Tim found it oddly satisfying that their boots didn't leave prints in the snow. Unlike his. How light were they?

 

"We have a problem," Gibbs spoke.

 

"Surprise!" Kate muttered to herself. Bertha and Tristan almost in unison cocked their head to the side (both left). Ducky and Palmer moved towards them from the other side of the car. Even Victoria steered Will closer to them.

 

"What is it?" she asked.

 

Fornell turned a strict gaze towards Tim. "Are you sure that this is the right place?"

 

The stone glowed the brightest if they were headed in the right direction. Tim reached into his pocket and pulled it out. It glowed so brightly that it was almost blinding.

 

"As sure as I can be," Tim nodded.

 

Fornell cursed then turned away from them and started pacing.

 

"You may or may not know, but," Tristan spoke, "shifters don't do well with not knowing something. It's in our DNA. We literally can go crazy because of our curiosity. So.... can someone save my sanity?"

 

He shifted from one foot to the other and his whole body seemed to vibrate with suppressed energy. It was something Tim had seen on Tony too.

 

"Are you and Tony related?" it slipped through Tim's lips. He couldn't help it. He had found many similarities between the two and it had been bothering him since their first meeting with the older shifter.

 

Tristan gave him a megawatt grin (See? That is what he is talking about). "No," the shifter replied. "Not by blood. But I consider him part of my pack!" He turned back to Gibbs then. "Hmm?"

 

"This is Wayne O. Casey' territory," Fornell spoke. "This is his property."

 

"What?" Tim barely recognized Victoria's voice behind the word. She sounded shocked, chocked... like when someone's world is falling apart. She shook her head. "That can't be! Do you even know what you are implying?"

 

"They are implying that an Elder is behind all of this," Tristan sounded calm. Oddly calm. Very-very calm. But the air around him? His presence? It grew so heavy that Tim had to step back, away from him.

 

"Not just an Elder!" Victoria stressed. Her British accent grew heavier. "He is the Elder who is on our side! He had been fighting with us from the very beginning! He is our voice in the Senate!"

 

"Your pain is understandable, Ms. Audley," Ducky spoke softly. "Betrayal is so painful because it comes from people we trust. However, right now we don't have time to waste."

 

"We can't attack an Elder!" Fornell snapped.

 

"Why not?" Gibbs challenged him.

 

"Call Thomas!" Victoria demanded. It was followed by a few moments of silence as everyone considered her suggestion, then Gibbs stepped away from them with his phone in his hand. Tim didn't hear the silent conversation, but it was short and soon Gibbs was saying that Morrow would be there soon. Snow started falling around them in the heavy silence. Tim imagined that it would cover them by the time the Director got there.

 

It didn't.

 

Morrow arrived with his long black coat flapping behind him, and with a light in his eyes that Tim started to associate with vampire glow. It was somehow different though, somehow like how he thought Tristan must be different compared to other shifters to Gibbs and the others. An Elder, the word fought its way to the front in Tim's mind as he stepped back allowing the Director to step into their circle.

 

Morrow though seemed to only have eyes for the tall shifter.

 

"You gotta be kidding! Tristan!"

 

The shifter grinned, dimples and all back. "Hey, Tommy!"

 

"I'll be damned!" Morrow huffed, then he looked at Gibbs. "Only you..."

 

"What?" the former marine snapped back irritably.

 

Morrow shook his head and the tiny banter ended. "Are you completely sure about all this?" he asked. His gaze moved around, only staying on one person for a second.

 

"I am," Gibbs replied, straight-backed and determined.

 

Tim held out the glowing stone to Morrow. He stared at it as Tristan quickly explained what it was and what the bright light meant.

 

Tom hummed, then after a few seconds, he nodded. He slipped out of his coat and handed it to Tim, then he turned to Gibbs. "Than what are we waiting for?"

 

"What the hell are you doing?" Gibbs asked as everyone else was too stunned to comment on the Director's actions.

 

"We are attacking an Elder, who probably has connections with the Horde. What do you think the Horde has that you don't and can decide the outcome of this fight?"

 

"Shifter's blood," Kate spoke with a grimace. Her gloved fingers were gripping her gun tightly.

 

"Exactly." Tom nodded. "What you need is an Elder."

 

"Aaaand shifter blood!"

 

All eyes turned towards Tristan. The giant shifter was grinning, just like usual and he was holding both of his hands out. Between his impossibly long fingers, tiny vials rested in his palms. All of them were filled with dark liquid.

 

"This is a cause I'm ready to bleed for." Tristan continued.

 

However, the vampires of their team weren't ready to accept his offer. Victoria flat out refused it. She said that it went against everything she was standing for. Bertha had a very similar explanation for not accepting. She was the mate of Zack, who had very similar rules as Victoria and the female vampire did everything to live by them too. Tristan tried to reason with them, saying that there is a very serious difference between taking it forcefully and accepting an offer. As Tim found out, taking a shifter's blood against its will was one of the gravest sins. That way he understood the reluctance.

 

Morrow asked something from the ancient shifter in a language that reminded Tim of _Aengarhi_ , the language of the shifters. Tristan looked surprised for a second, then a warm smile brightened his handsome features. He replied in the same language and handed a vial to the Director. Morrow accepted it with a little nod and a softly spoken word. Fornell repeated the ritual and he too accepted a vial.

 

Tristan then turned to Gibbs and waited for an answer. The former marine stared back with an unreadable expression.

 

"This offer..." Gibbs spoke. He cleared his throat and looked into the shifter's hazel colored eyes. Tim recalled the last few days. Holly Hell! Was it just a few days? He thought about Gibbs first reactions when the involvement of shifters had come to light. His dislike and distrust. Then how things had progressed, how everything had changed. The out of character behavior started to make sense.

 

Tristan held the gaze and for once, he looked serious. "This is my offer. My decision. No one forces my hand. I'm doing it for my pack. Consider your decision from this angle. Why are you doing this?"

 

Gibbs didn't reply but accepted a vial from the hand that was holding it out to him. He didn't say the words that had been used by Fornell and Morrow, but the respect in the eyes of the vampire and the shifter looked to be more than enough. With that, all of Tim's concerns' were thrown out of the window. Gibbs and Tony's relationship would survive surely. They just needed their shifter back.

 

"So, what's the plan?" Morrow asked.

 

Of course, they didn't attack outright. First, Victoria and Bertha circled around the estate and put down a line of Mountain Ash. The estate was huge and they had to stay outside of the guards' radar, but their supernatural speed worked in their favor. Gibbs and Abby carefully made their way into the woods so the Witch could identify the sigils and spells that protected the building deeper inside. Just like before with Fornell, this time they didn't stay away for too long either. A half hour passed and then Gibbs stepped out of the woods, with Abby held securely in his arms, so that her boots wouldn't make a sound or leave a print.

 

"So?" Morrow asked for a report.

 

"It's complex protection system," Abby explained. "It's like a spider web. It doesn't matter where it is disturbed, it'll send a warning to the center."

 

"Can it cause harm?" Gibbs wanted to know.

 

"For a common creature? Yeah, it would. But..." she looked meaningfully at Tristan and Morrow. "Just like I said, it's like a spider web. It can catch a fly but can't hold a horse."

 

"We can't go in unnoticed, but with brutal force it's doable." Kate summarized for them.

 

"Well, here is our plan." Morrow nodded.

 

"At least it's simple." Fornell huffed.

 

They formed three teams. Victoria, Bertha, Kate, Gibbs, and Fornell would be the attack team, who would follow Tristan and Morrow into the fray. The others would stay behind and catch those who' try to escape.

 

Tim had mixed feelings about this arrangement. As a field agent, he felt the need to be in there, in the middle of the fight, but rationally he knew that he was just human, freshly accepted into this world. He wanted to help Tony, yes, but not through killing himself or even worse, someone else.

 

"Everyone ready?" Morrow asked. When he got a nod from every member of the team, he and the other vampires drank Tristan's blood. Almost immediately, the air grew suffocatingly heavy. Tim felt like someone had sat on his sternum and he had to fight for every breath he took.

 

Tristan moved forward, away from them and he reached for the bracelets on his arm.

 

"You might want to stay back," he warned. The group took his advice and moved back a few steps.

 

The bracelets fell to the ground one by one and when the last one hit the ground, Tim had to grab the roof of the car to steady himself. He felt suddenly disorientated, dizzy, but also giddy and weightless. He felt a hand, Abby's slender fingers gripping his shoulder. Her presence steadied him enough that he regained some control over himself. His eyes immediately sought out the ancient shifter.

 

Tristan stood tall at the edge of the forest, his body seemed to glow. His eyes changed color with every breath the shifter took. Blue, then brown, then green, then yellow and on and on. What really caught Tim's attention though was what he could see (was he really seeing it or was it a hallucination?) on top of his head. An impressive pair of antlers shimmered in and out of sight. They were complexly branched as they reached towards the sky and to the side. But that wasn't the most bizarre. The fact that they were surrounded by green flames was.

 

"Holly Hell!" Tim heard someone's stunned voice. He was almost certain that it had come from Fornell.

 

Tristan turned slowly towards them, the huge antlers moving with him, still shimmering in and out of sight.

 

"Well, let's rip this web apart!"

 

***

 

Gwen swirled around, her A-lined skirt moving around her elegantly. She missed her Victorian-style dresses. Back then elegance hadn't been a possibility, but a rule. However, nowadays? She did another slow swirl to Beethoven's Silence. She would have preferred her mates piano playing, but Adger was tired and therefore irritated, he never dances like that. So, she had to deal with that monstrous thing called a CD player. At least, she glanced at her mate, she had Adger's full attention on her. She smiled at him as he sat on the table and sipped his wine. She swirled closer and closer to him to the slow rhythm of the music.

 

A sudden wave through the supernatural world took away the strength from her legs and she nearly collapsed to the floor. Strong arms circled around her, lifting her up. Adger was there, hugging her to his chest. His whole body was trembling.

 

"What the hell is going on?" Mortimer, a boyish-looking member of their clan asked. She heard the panic that was filling her core rapidly in his voice too.

 

Gwen raised her head just in time to see how the sigil's that had been hidden a moment ago started glowing on the walls, then one by one all of them just... broke.

 

"Prepare for a fight!" Adger, the leader of their garrison snapped the order. He pushed her behind himself and he unsheathed his Blessed Knife.

 

The last of the sigils were still blinking out of life when two figures appeared outside. They watched through the floor-to-ceiling sized glass as the two figures approached. Even from that distance, Gwen could see how their traces, their suffocating, godlike traces interweaved.

 

"A bonded pair," she breathed.

 

"That's impossible!" she didn't pay attention to the source of the voice, because yes, it should have been impossible, but here they were. And they were coming.

 

Gwen knew only one way to overcome that numbing fear that filled her.

 

It was her hate.

 

She concentrated on that.

 

She hated shifters because they were made to be the polar opposite of vampires.

 

The glass cracked as the two figures got closer.

 

She hated them because of the Story.

 

The glass shattered to pieces and there remained no barrier between the pair and them.

 

She hated them for the awe other supernatural creatures showed towards them.

 

Adger barked an order and they jumped as one at the enemy. The shifter's right arm shot out and grabbed Mortimer by the neck. A sickening crack filled the air.

 

She hated them because they thought that they deserved to be more than slaves.

 

More vampires joined the fight and they were not on their side. Stupid Shifter-Petters! How dare they betray their heritage?

 

She hated them because of her family. Her stupid, no good, shifter-petter family!

 

Floyd's body hit the ground. His whole body aged, years flying by in seconds, till an unrecognizable, cachexic corpse remained. The hole in his chest indicated a wooden bullet. His assassin... was that woman... Did they bring a zombie with them? How dare they!

 

She hated them becuase humans considered them gods!

 

She spotted a figure, golden and white spinning elegantly in the chaos. She would recognize Victoria Audley anywhere. A woman she hated as much as shifters. Or even more.

 

She flew through the battlefield. She gripped her Blessed Knife in her left hand, her dominant hand, a specialty in this cruel world. One more step, a swing, and her enemy would be dead...

 

Her hand was grabbed. Her vision was filled with blue and silver. A murderous and lethal vampire trace numbing her to the core. She didn't even feel the wooden stake that slipped through her hearth with ease.

 

_She hated them because, without hate, there would be only fear. Even death was better than fear._

 

***

 

Tim paced back and forth in the growing snow. It really should stop falling already, or they'll disappear under it.

 

It was only Abby, Jimmy, Ducky, Will and him who was not involved with the fight that was probably raging on not even a mile away from them. It frustrated Tim more and more as the minutes ticked by. He had finally become a field agent. However, he was still a human. He understood, he really did, but it didn't make accepting feeling helpless again any easier.

 

He turned to start another of the countless rounds, but he came face to face with Will. He barely stopped his legs and even with that accomplished successfully, he nearly fell over the shiftling.

 

"Whoa!" He yelped.

 

Will stared at him through his dreadlocks, night-dark eyes studying him without blinking.

 

"Not right." the shiftling spoke softly.

 

"What's not right?" Tim asked back. He quickly glanced around. Abby and Ducky were standing together at the edge of the forest, but Jimmy who was leaning against one of the SUVs was watching them silently.

 

"This. You!" Will's fingers played with his scarf, dark eyes downcast this time. "Not right."

 

Tim took a deep breath, reminding himself that he was dealing with a damaged soul.

 

A damaged soul with knowledge.

 

"Will. You can do this. Please, tell me what you mean." he spoke softly.

 

The shiftling huffed but also nodded. Then he raised his head and looked straight into Tim's eyes.

 

"We have to go in."

 

"What?" Tim gaped at the shiftling. "No, Will. We have to..."

 

"Timothy!" the agent snapped his head to Ducky who was still facing the forest. Only the old man's body was glowing warmly.

 

"Vampires are coming, Timothy." the ME spoke again. "You should take our young friend's advice. Mr. Palmer, would you please go with them?"

 

"Of course!" Jimmy pushed himself away from the car and approached the shiftling and the human.

 

"What?" Tim was gapping them. "We can't. Ducky! What about Ab---"

 

"I'm a witch, Timmy!" the Goth cut him off. "I can take care of myself." She glanced at Ducky. "We can take care of ourselves. Go!"

 

Will grabbed his sleeve and pulled. "Come! I'll tell!"

 

Despite Will's skinny appearance, the shiftling was surprisingly strong as he pulled the agent after himself. In no time, Tim found himself stumbling over snow, roots, fallen branches while ducking mostly unsuccessfully branches.

 

"Will!" He hissed and tried to free his arm. Unsuccessfully... He glanced back and saw Jimmy following them with more grace than what the gremlin should have. And of course, he still had that water bottle.

 

"Here!" Will whispered and stopped suddenly. This time Tim wasn't fast enough and he ended up sprawled against a tree trunk. He peeled himself off of it and tried not to glare at the shiftling. Luckily by that time Will was ignoring him.

 

"The same!" he said brightly.

 

Tim finally noticed that they had reached the other end of the forest. A chain-link fence was standing in their way and through it, Tim finally saw the base of the Horde. It looked like it had been built hastily. It had one tower, but otherwise, it looked like your average warehouse. The whole layout looked familiar for Tim too. He studied the building with narrowed eyes, then it clicked. In one of Victoria's files, there was a photo of a building that looked exactly like this. He noticed something else too.

 

"That camera is watching us!" He hissed.

 

"Listen!" Palmer spoke up. Tim followed his advice and the sound of distant screams and shouts finally registered in his mind. "I don't think anyone is paying us any attention."

 

"Probably." Tim nodded with a swallow.

 

Next to them, Will started digging into the snow. Jimmy and Tim shared a look and with a shrug, they both squatted down and started digging too. Soon they found what the shifter was looking for. There was an old, rusty metal trap door down there. The shiftling, despite what he had promised, didn't explain anything. He started pulling on the handle and the door let out a creak but didn't budge.

 

"Let me." Jimmy took his place and after one big breath, he opened it with a little effort.

 

"Wow!" Tim whispered.

 

"Gremlin!" Jimmy grinned proudly, then he motioned at the dark hole in the ground.

 

"What's down there?" he asked the shiftling.

 

"Airvents!" Will said enthusiastically. "This is the only way down to the lowest level. That is where we have to go!"

 

Tim decided that it was time for answers, so he asked. "Why?"

 

"To free your friend," Will said with a face that screamed that Tim just asked the obvious.

 

"Will. The others with Victoria are already doing that. What else---"

 

"NO!" Will slammed a hand against the nearest tree. Tim blinked at the sudden outburst of the usually quiet shiftling.

 

"It has to be you!" he pressed. "If not, he'll kill the others!" he raised his dark, desperate eyes at Tim. "It has to be you!"

 

"Why me?" Tim asked quietly.

 

"You are a human. You did the spell. He can't hurt you, even if he is wild. He has to help you! He can't resist that!"

 

"You think that Tony has gone feral?" Jimmy's words were quiet too and aimed at the shiftling.

 

Will rubbed his left arm with his right and he stared down at the dark hole.

 

"It's not a choice," he mumbled.

 

"Than we don't have a choice either." Tim nodded taking the lead. "Show us the way."

 

Without hesitation, he followed the shiftling down into the darkness.

 

***

Tim would have long lost track of the turns of the vents if it weren't for Will and the stone. After a while, he took the lead so the Pangdrodite could do its job, where the shiftling's memory started to fail. Luckily, the vents never got too tight for them to move around and after a long climb, Will put a hand onto his arm.

 

"Here!" he whispered. He blinked and his eyes glowed with a dark purple glow. It was the first time that Tim had seen the shiftling showing something of his supernatural abilities and it almost stole his breath away. Would it ever become normal? "That's the right one."

 

Tim climbed to the vent cover and peered through it. All he could see was a stained floor of a dimly lit room.

 

"I can't smell vampires." Will said probably as encouragement.

 

Jimmy reached ahead between them with his long arm, grabbed the cover and with his supernatural strength, he pushed. The cover fell to the ground with a clatter, broken screws following suit. Tim stared at the gremlin, but Jimmy just shrugged.

 

"After you!" he whispered.

 

Tim swallowed his stomach back to its place and awkwardly climbed through the hole. He made sure that he didn't look around till his feet touched the ground, but when that happened, there was no more stalling.

 

The rack in the middle of the room was hard to miss. Or even not to look at. The moment his eyes fell upon the familiar figure chained down to it, his hesitancy disappeared. He didn't pay attention to Jimmy and Will as they too climbed into the room. He hurried to the rack.

 

Tony's eyes were closed, his breathing was slow and deep. His chest and feet were a bloody mess. Tim couldn't even look at the deep cuts without his stomach turning. He was just glad that the whoever had done this to his friend had shown enough mercy to leave the man's trousers on. Tim opened his mouth to say something, but the words froze in his throat as Tony blinked his eyes open.

 

Gold and red swirled and glowed in those orbs.

 

The mesmerizing pair fixated on Tim's face and the young agent felt his knees weaken under the power in them.

 

"He is your friend," Will's whisper came from behind him. "You have to free him!"

 

A deep rumbling sound came from the shifter on the rack. It was slightly muffled by the metal something that covered half of Tony's face, but even like that, the threat was clear. The swirling colors in the SFA's eyes turned more red than gold and the pupils dilated.

 

Tim swallowed at the sight. He couldn't find recognition in his friend's reactions and freeing a feral shifter sounded suicidal.

 

"He can't hurt you!" Will pressed quietly.

 

"Remember! The spell!" Jimmy added equally softly.

 

The rumbling sound came again, but the eyes didn't move from Tim.

 

"Okay," the young agent nodded to himself. He took another step closer to the rack. Here came the sound again that Tim decided to identify as a growl.

 

"Hey there," he spoke with a light tone. "It's me! McWorry, remember?"

 

The growl indicated that no, Tony was not remembering.

 

"I... What do I do?" Tim asked desperately.

 

Tony flexed his fingers and with a soft cracking sound, long, sharp nails grew from the human ones.

 

"He won't hurt you!" considering that Will was the most skittish creature that Tim had ever seen, he sounded way too confident that time.

 

"He doesn't look so sure about that!" he hissed back.

 

"Show him that he can trust you. Free him!" Jimmy advised.

 

Tim slowly inched closer. His every movement was accompanied by a threatening growl and an occasional snarl. It was impressive of Tony considering he was gagged. The sound almost became constant as he leaned forward to examine the locks. The silver looking chains and their locks would cause some problem, but with a little luck, he could deal with the collar and the mask. Assuming that he could keep his arms afterward.

 

So collar or the mask? Which would Tony hate more? It was hard to tell with the other's freeish personality.

 

"Easy!" Tim soothed as he started fumbling with the collar's lock. "Just one minute..."

 

The wall behind them slipped open and someone burst in.

 

"What do you---"

 

Tim's fingers flicked the last of the lock into place, then the world exploded into a blinding white light, series of horrible cracking sound and a deafening roar.

 

Tim was knocked onto his back. The impact forced the air out of his lungs and he had to fight for the next couple of breaths. He kept his eyes tightly shut, while his arms covered his head.

 

He prayed.

 

A terrified scream filled the room. Then came the now familiar growl. Then the snapping, chewing sound. The scream turned wet, the sound of a lung flooded. Then the scream was cut short and then there were the chewing, the growling, and the dripping.

 

Silence.

 

The sound of nails scraping on the hard surface.

 

Two thuds on either side of his face.

 

A hot breath on his face.

 

Tim blinked his eyes open.

 

His vision was filled by the stunning sight of an enormous wolf head. The size was incredible. With those jaws, its bite radius would be enough to rip him to half. The long fur that was framing the black nose and the golden-red eyes was white, but Tim was close enough to see that the tips were shimmering blue, the same color as those wing-like patterns that were spread out under the eyes. The wolf snarled, showing rows of teeth that were probably longer than Tim's index finger. And those canines...

 

At that moment, Tim was sure that he was going to die.

 

To Be Continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!   
> Again, I apologize for being late. I had to start my residency way earlier than what I expected, but that doesn't mean that I'll stop writing. 
> 
> Instead, I created a Tumblr profile under the name verytreetimetravel. Please join me there and be part of this universe that I'm creating. I'm very curious what you thing, if you have ideas, opinions or anything! 
> 
> See you all (I hope) very soon!  
> Esrite


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do you do, when the one you are trying to save is the most dangerous thing in the whole situation?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This one is bloody! You have been warned! The picture was created by my very talented sister. Bless her soul! If you are interested in discussing this story with me, find me on Tumblr as verytreetimetravel or search for the title of the story.  
> See ya!

 

_How do you save a feral shifter?_

 

Tristan strode through the woods while munching on a bitter orange and contemplating inconveniences. Having to travel here was an inconvenience. Knowing that when he got back to his own home, the Alpha wouldn't be there, was a grave inconvenience. Or had it already slipped out of that category?

 

"Duh!" he muttered and took another bite from the cooked fruit.

 

What else? He sighed. He was the right-hand man of the Alpha and where was he? Tracking down a man that he despised more than anything. Probably more than anything. Possibly more than anything?

 

Long story short, a message had reached their Alpha that the man with whom his now deceased daughter, Leith had run away needed serious help. The War was coming to an end finally, thanks to the help of the Grim Reapers' intervention. Despite that, their Alpha had decided it that he needed to isolate himself from the world, because of his so-called sins and the true losses. Tristan couldn't blame him for this. The Alpha's daughter and wife had also fallen during the horrible war. Both of them killed by vampires. However, Tristan did feel resentment for being left behind. He wasn't family by blood, but he had served him since he had become their current alpha. He was kinda family.

 

But of course, he had been the chosen one for this. The one to search for this filius canis!

 

He felt a bit guilty for the harsh thoughts. Leith had loved this man after all. But Leith was also dead, while this.... this... man was alive! Well, if you may. Where had he been when Leith had needed him? When she had been murdered?

 

Why in Gaia's name did Sandre feel the need to even answer?

 

His train of thoughts came to a halt when his sensitive nostrils picked up a smell.

 

"Huh... He doesn't even shield himself," he mumbled to himself. He glanced up the sky. Dark clouds were slowly gathering. Maybe if he hurries up, he can wait out the storm somewhere safe... and far away from the filius canis.

 

He spotted the small building a little while later. It looked run down, unkept. Not a place which he pictured for the filius canis' home. The stories spoke of a luxurious lifestyle.

 

He knocked on the door and to his surprise, the force of it pushed it open.

 

"Is anyone home?" he called out. "My name is Tristan!"

 

No reply came, so he slowly entered the building. It had only one room with a fireplace in the middle. He spotted some blinking embers still in there, so he guessed that the owner had been recently there.

 

" _Onquo_ _alikan kodoti?_ " he repeated in his own language. If a shifter was nearby, he would understand. " _Menan mine onquo Tristan!_ "

 

" _An---_ " he started calling out again, but a fox jumped out from under tablecloths and growled at him. It was an averagely sized fox, with normal coloring and normal sound. However, the trace and the eyes gave it away. Tristan recognized the shifter despite the fact that he hadn't seen him in so many years. Not since Leith...

 

" _Sandre sent me,_ " he spoke instead. He stuck to Aengarhi to avoid language confusion.

 

The fox's body shook and a bright light filled the room. When Tristan opened his eyes again, the handsome man was standing in front of him in his all naked glory. The man moved to the bed when Tristan raised an eyebrow and pulled the thin blanket off it. He wrapped the cloth around his hips and tied it with a neat knock.

 

" _Is it only you?_ " he asked. " _Why is it only you?_ "

 

" _Am I not enough_?" Tristan shot back.

 

The man glared at him, then turned away and started pacing.

 

" _Antonius! You asked for help. Why?_ "

 

" _It's Anthony now,_ " the other shifter corrected him.

 

Tristan considered himself a patient man, but this time he reached his limits. He let go of his control to remind the other shifter who was the stronger one out of the two of them. The change was instant. Anthony went rigid, then he slowly turned towards him. They stared into each other's eyes. Finally, Anthony broke.

 

" _My son was captured by vampires,_ " he said as his eyes found the floor. " _I need you to rescue him._ "

 

It was Tristan's turn to go rigid. So, Anthony had a child? A son? But it couldn't be possible that it was... He was... She was gone before...

 

Anthony looked back at him as he failed to reply. He must have seen the emotions on his face flashing by because he spoke even softer than before.

 

" _He is Leith's_."

 

Tristan moved before his brain actually registered what he was doing. He wrapped his long fingers around the man's neck and slammed him against the nearest wall. Tiny cracks ran radially through the wooden surface. None of them cared.

 

" _Where were you?_ " Tristan growled.

 

_"I was out of town, but---"_

 

Tristan pulled with his hands then slammed the man against the wall again.

 

" _Where were you?"_ he all but roared. Anthony's body shuddered, but his hold on him prevented him from shifting. _"You know what I did? What my sin is? I looked away! I wanted Leith to be happy, so I looked away! I let her run with you! Where were you when she died? What have you done with her child?"_

 

Anthony didn't dare to speak. He shook his head in despair, but no sound escaped his lips. Maybe that was the wisest decision.

 

" _Where did they take him?_ " Tristan demanded. He started to calm a little. He had a mission after all. A true mission.

 

Anthony hastily told him everything he knew. It turned out that he hadn't just planned to sit out his son's capture and rescue. He had tracked down the vampires, a new clan called the Horde. He knew where they probably held his son, but he wouldn't have stood a chance alone, that was why he had sent his message.

 

Tristan forced every drop of information he had out of him but refused to allow the man to accompany him.

 

" _He is my son!_ " Anthony snapped outraged. Maybe rightfully. Not that Tristan cared.

 

" _What's his name?_ " he asked instead.

 

Anthony blinked at the question, confusion taking over anger. " _He is named after me._ "

 

" _The name Leith had given him?_ " Tristan demanded.

 

" _Lyvancora_."

 

***

The rain started to fall, but the thought of waiting it out somewhere safe was long gone. He almost flew through the forest, towards his goal. He never faltered, never stumbled. His feet found the safest spot to step on without his brain's conscious contribution. He was the child of the forest, a True Shifter. He belonged to the woods. The universe knew that and bent to this fact.

 

The fortress came to view through the thinning forest. That was his destination.

 

He stopped at the edge of the forest and stared up at the building. The air was filled with the smell of death and blood. His supernatural eyes saw the slowly disappearing traces of the deceased. His human eyes saw the mutilated corpses hanging here and there, or sprawled out somewhere else.

 

In pieces.

 

"Oh, faex..." he muttered.

 

He started walking again, this time much slower. No one stopped him at the gates. How could anyone? The guards were scattered around in more pieces than it should be possible. He moved carefully, stepping over corpses with a grimace. Luckily all of them were vampires.

 

It took some time, but he finally found the dungeon. The carnage was even worse down there. It looked like the vamps had tried to stop that something that had done that.

 

However, that wasn't the only thing he found.

 

The tiny shiftling's body lay in a cage. The bars had been ripped apart, but her body was almost intact. The bite marks were all vampire. He pulled off his cape and draped it over the tiny body. She disappeared under it like a baby. He carefully wrapped her in it, then hoisted her up. No way he was leaving her there.

 

He started following the smell of a shifter that had filled the dungeon and could be smelled even outside, despite the rain, that was falling mercilessly. When he reached the clearing between the forest and the fortress, he looked around for an ideal place. There was a patch of flowers on his right.

 

Perfect.

 

He laid down the little shiftling between the white little beauties. He arranged her limbs gently, though he made sure that his cape remained wrapped around her. He reached into his haversack and pulled out a small vile. It was a Phial of Twilight. Something only shifters have.

 

" _Nome tah tava rudell dessaa é resfla_ " he whispered, then he poured the vial's content onto the shiftling. Her body was enveloped in bright blue flames. He watched till the last of her bones disappeared, her ashes scattered between the untouched flowers.

 

He closed his eyes for a second. Losing youngsters always shook him. But he had a mission. Another youngster.

 

The smell was still there, although slowly disappearing. He consciously didn't think about how familiar it smelled. He started walking again but kept his gaze on the ground. Soon the smell would disappear and he needed a visual confirmation.

 

There. In the mud.

 

It was a huge print. A wolf's. Tristan stepped next to it and couldn't help but grin. His feet were big, after all, he was very tall. The wolf's footprint was even bigger. He started following it while making sure that he destroyed the ones behind him. They lived in a harsh word. Humans didn't need evidence of the supernatural. The fortress was a problem enough.

 

After several steps, the wolf prints disappeared and they were replaced by a human's footprint. That was good news. The child had enough sentient left in him to turn back. He didn't go completely feral. There was still hope for him.

 

The human footprints changed too after a while. They were replaced by wolf prints again, but much smaller than the first ones. They were the size of a normal wolf's.

 

"Huh! Clever!" Tristan grinned.

 

The rain was falling heavier and a thunder rolled in the distance. He picked up his pace. The rain would wash away the prints, he didn't have time to waste. Obviously, the prints led into the thickest, darkest part of the woods, where the fallen leaves hid the track of the shifter child.

 

Tristan stopped for a moment. Shifters didn't see traces as well as the vamps, so he had to rely on his sense of smell. He closed his eyes and let go of his own self. With his control gone, his senses sharpened ten times more. He considered shifting completely, but he reminded himself that the child wouldn't be in his right mind probably. A True Shifter in all his glory could push him over the edge.

 

At least he could smell him again.

 

He started forward again slowly. He was close. Closer than what he originally thought. This part of the country was covered in hills, which hardened this trip severely.

 

And as it turned out, created very good covers.

 

Several trees had fallen once there, probably because of a storm. As he stepped over one of them, he froze. Every instinct of his ordered him to stop. He turned towards that end of the bole, which led to the roots. There. The taproot was still in the ground, but the shallow roots created a tiny cave with the bole.

 

Tristan could see something dark huddled in there. He slowly approached it knowing well that he was dealing with a predator. A hurt and probably scared predator. Just his kind of things.

 

When only a few feets separated him and the being hiding there, he crouched down carefully.

 

" _Tersalve, Lyvancora!_ " he greeted the shifter with a gentle smile.

 

His only reply was a threatening growl.

 

"My name is Tristan. Your father sent me." he tried to reassure the young shifter. The smell was unmistakable. This creature was the son of Leith.

 

The growl sounded even angrier than before. It was a reaction that Tristan would need to reevaluate later. First, he needed to calm the child down. But how?

 

" _So, do you have a nickname_?"

 

A growl.

 

" _Can I call you Lyv? Lyvy? Oh, what about Cora?_ "

 

The names seemed to anger the wolf so much that it stuck its snarling head out of its hiding place for a moment. Tristan caught sight of black fur, red patterns and a pair of red-golden eyes. The colors were troubling.

 

Tristan sighed as the head disappeared again, only occasional angry growls indicated that the dark fur inside the tiny almost-cave belonged to something alive. The ancient shifter had only one more trick up in his sleeve that could work. He rose then took a step back. His body shuddered as he willed himself to shift. Just like how the wolf wasn't in his fullest form, he stuck to a smaller one too. He managed to look like an average Irish elk. It was still something that humans had never seen, but still smaller and more ... normal like his true form.

 

He bent his knees and slowly lowered his massive body to the ground. The rain was still falling heavily, but it didn't bother him, because of his thick fur. Not that he could catch a common cold.

 

He lost track of time. The rain fell, then didn't. Sun rose then darkness came. He just waited through it.

 

Then something finally happened. The wolf slowly creeped out of its hiding place. It was sniffing the air carefully. Tristan lowered his head to the ground, then didn't move again.

 

Not even when the wolf carefully stepped around his antlers, then pressed its smaller body against his side. One of the several tails that belonged to the wolf wrapped around one of the branches of the antlers.

 

It felt like a victory.

 

***

Tim stared at the huge wolf and it starred back with a lot of murder in its more red than golden eyes. The young agent knew for sure that not even a little bit sentient could have remained in the shifter standing above him.

 

And that meant he was going to be mauled to death.

 

The wolf snarled and leaned closer. They were barely an inch apart, so close that Tim had to breath in the air that the wolf exhaled. The agent screwed his eyes shut. He didn't want to see it happen.

 

A chirping sound cut through the thick tension in the room. Tim felt the beast move above him and his eyes snapped open. Just under the air vent hole, Jimmy was trying to shield Will, who stubbornly ducked out of the cover provided by the Gremlin and he kept chirping at the shifter. The wolf opened his mouth and roared at the pair. Tim's hand flew to his ears, but they couldn't protect his eardrums against the majestic force. The roar was followed by a deep, throaty sound, but it wasn't reassuring either.

 

Jimmy backed slowly away from the wolf, pushing Will behind him. After two steps they reached the wall.

 

"The Pangdrodite!" the shiftling whisper-shouted.

 

The wolf stepped over Tim, its red-golden eyes glued to the pair. Scarily long teeth seemed even bigger as the snarl appeared again. Like that, Tim could see the wing like blue patterns on the wolfs back, just like the countless, too long, snake-like tails swaying behind the creature.

 

The words of the shiftling registered and he pulled the stone out of his pocket. It was so warm that he could barely hold it and so bright, that it was blinding. The wolf's head snapped back at him and Tim had to resist the urge to shrink away. It was a herculean effort. The wolf's eyes were fixated on the stone and for a few moments, no one moved.

 

Suddenly the wolf roared again. Tim dropped the stone as he tried to shield himself from the thundering sound. One of the impossibly long tails snapped forward and pushed him aside. He barely landed, but Tim was already jumping up, fearing for the other two persons in the room. He saw as the powerful body of the wolf tensed, then it lunged forward, breaking down a part of the wall, which turned out to be a hidden door. It didn't stop the powerful creature as it went for and through the double doors in the room next to this one.

 

Then the screaming started.

 

***

 

Gibbs hissed as his current opponent's Blessed Knife slashed through his coat and cut his arm. He had no previous knowledge of the numbers, but this was too much. Not only that, but his opponents were much stronger than an average vampire. Even with the extra stamina provided by Tristan's blood, he was tiring quickly. He glanced at Bertha and Victoria, the two who refused the shifter's help. Audley's originally white coat was know ruined by blood and cuts, while the left side of her face was covered in the same liquid, which was trickling from the cut at her hairline. Bertha wasn't holding up any better. She was still fighting but mostly covering Fornell's back as her team leader fought in front of her protectively.

 

And they weren't making any progress.

 

He angrily stabbed forward with the stake in his hand, but his current opponent jumped out of the way. The vamp had become almost crazed since Gibbs had killed a certain female. Not that Gibbs could truly blame him. The trace of mate lost screamed off the guy. In other circumstances, he would have been sympathetic even.

 

But the circumstances put them against each other and there was no room for sympathy. Only for angry bloodlust.

 

And fear as a roar cut through the battle.

 

Everyone froze, opponents jumping away from each other, then no movement. It came from somewhere under them, but all the Horde members kept their frightened gaze on the double doors on their left. The growing heaviness in the air indicated that something was coming. Bloodcurdling screams came from the other side of the doors, then the roar accompanied by crashing sounds followed.

 

The silence after was even more frightening.

 

Gibbs' last opponent dropped his Blessed Knife onto the ground and he slowly turned towards the double door. A deep, throaty growl filled the lethal silence. The vamp didn't react. His eyes were half-lidded, lips slightly parted, no emotion on the very pale face.

 

Two things happened at once.

 

Tristan all but ran him over with a tank like force.

 

"Move!" the shifter roared at him and pushed. Gibbs stumbled through the broken window at the same time as the double doors flew open and a huge white furry of fur exploded through it. Gibbs watched over Tristan's shoulder almost in a daze as the long, sharp teeth sank into the vampire's chest.

 

***

 

Gibbs was manhandled out of the building and through the clearing in front of it. They were at the edge of the woods when he finally tore himself away from the powerful shifter and he looked around. They were still close enough to the building to see the huge white something moving around inside and see as a dark liquid splashed onto the still intact windows here and there.

 

They still could hear the screaming.

 

He glanced at his companions and he froze. Fornell had one of Bertha's arms around his shoulders, while the female vampire leaned against the FBI agent. Her knees shook with the strain of being upwards. Victoria was holding up a bit better but still kept close to Morrow, seeking the much stronger Elder's presence for support and protection. Tristan was staring at Gibbs' horrified expression with confusion on his own features.

 

Kate was nowhere to be seen.

 

The silver-haired vampire spun around, the need to save and protect his clan members taking over his mind. However, Tristan was fast too and strong. A large hand grabbed him and threw him back, towards the trees. Gibbs rolled and was on his feet in the next second, eyes flashing supernatural blue, fangs growing and sharpening. His enraged hiss would have snapped a lesser vampire or shifter to attention. Tristan just looked sad.

 

"You can't go in there. You'll die."

 

"My agent is in there! Screw it! My agents are in there!"

 

Tristan shook his head. He spread his legs a little, arms held out to the sides.

 

"The Pup had gone feral. You wouldn't last a second in there. But he can't kill the living dead!"

 

"Just because she can't die doesn't mean that she can't feel pain!" Gibbs all but roared.

 

Morrow stepped forward, hands held up in a placating gesture. "Gibbs..."

 

Then the agent's name was repeated several times more, but it was not by the Director. They all turned to see Abby crashing through the woods.

 

"Abs?" Gibbs blinked. His unease rocketed to the skies. Why was almost every member of his team rushing into danger? Wait... Where was McGee? Shouldn't he be guarding the frantic witch?

 

The moment Abby crashed into him, Ducky appeared out of nowhere surrounded by a gentle, warm light.

 

"What are you doing here?" Gibbs gaped at them. This time he wasn't the only one. Morrow and the others looked equally baffled. Abby waved at the building, her wide eyes staring into the ex-marine's soul.

 

"They are in there! Timmy, Jimmy, and Will! They are in there!" she said the words that Gibbs really didn't want to hear. Never wanted to hear, but wasn't that surprised because his team was filled with idiots who ran towards danger way greater than them, never away.

 

He turned again to follow the example of his very stupid team. He didn't care that Tristan was standing in the way. He was fast approaching that state of mind, where he wasn't above using his Blessed Knife. It was silver. It could harm shifters!

 

***

 

The overturned table was not an ideal cover, but she didn't have a better idea. Or better possibility. Kate pushed her back against the cheap furniture. At least it was metal and heavy.

 

"Just perfect," she thought to herself sarcastically. Of course, it was her. Who else would be stuck in a building with a feral shifter? Seriously, who else?

 

Tony.

 

Yeah, the inner voice in her head was right. Only, as far as she knew Tony was the shifter raging on the other side of the table.

 

Come to think of it, she realized with a sinking feeling, that it was quiet. All she could hear was the breathing of the huge wolf in there with her. She stilled hers. As a zombie, she didn't actually need to breathe, but being surrounded with humans most of the time, let's just say it would have been weird.

 

She tried to guess what the wolf was doing by only listening. She didn't dare to actually look. Being mauled to death hurt even if it didn't stick.

 

Something moved in her peripheral vision. She turned her head a bit to the left. It was the end of one of the several tails of the wolf. It was moving non-stop, swirling, swinging, wiggling. She heard a huffing sound, then sniffs. The wolf was searching for something. She closed her eyes and prayed. Something she hadn't done ever since the end of her nun days way back then.

 

On her right, the elevator beeped and clanged. Then by the sound of it the old thing started moving. It went to the basement.

 

A deep rumbling sound filled the place. She guessed that it was a growl. It was followed by a roar. Her hands flew to her ears, index fingers covering her external ear canals.

 

Since when do wolfs roar?

 

The beast slammed himself against the metal doors and mercilessly started tearing it apart. Kate watched with silent horror as those long nails sank into the metal like it was butter. Or paper. The shifter tore the metal off and it flew across the room. Kate winced as it slammed against something she couldn't see. It was an old freight elevator by the look of it. The car was probably in the basement, but it didn't seem to stop the shifter. The wolf pushed its huge body into the shaft and to Kate's shock, started climbing upwards.

 

She waited until the tips of the tails disappeared, then she slowly stood. It was time to escape. She made the mistake of looking around. She had seen horrible things through her life and death. Becoming a zombie wasn't pretty after all, but this? There were corpses in pieces everywhere and because dead vampires mummified on site as soon as they died, it looked even more gruesome.

 

"Kate!"

 

She spun around at the whispered version of her name and gaped. McGee, Palmer and Will were creeping towards her and to her shock, they were coming through the same used to be double doors that the wolf had destroyed.

 

"What?" she asked in her shock, but Tim who had caught up with her spun her around.

 

"We have to get out of here!"

 

***

Mathias had almost finished the bottle of whiskey when the sigils on the wall burnt out of existence. He stood slowly and stared at the walls in a stunned silence. Maybe it was the unicorn blood blended in the alcohol or simply he just lost his mind, because he just remained there and stared. He could have checked the security cameras, could have demanded an update from the garrison guarding their current base. He did none of that.

 

He stood there, unable to move for who knows how long. All he could think about was Shaunda and how smart she had been to take off.

 

Then the elevator moved with its annoying clanging noise. It could have been another malfunction or someone was trying to escape. He would never find out.

 

The next sound was entirely different. It was accompanied by a gradually growing heaviness in the air.

 

And being this stupid prey, he stood there, frozen to the spot, even when long, sharp nails ripped through the metal like it was paper. The elevator door just fell as a huge, white head of a wolf pushed through it.

 

He stared into the red-golden eyes.

 

_The last thing you'll see before you die will be a pair of red-golden eyes._

 

His last thought before his light blinked out of this world was that at least Stella wasn't there.

 

***

His whole body tensed ready to bounce. He wasn't thinking clearly anymore. The bigger part of his surrogate family was in danger, there was no room left for rational thinking.

 

"Gibbs!" Morrow warned him. The single word was full with the sound of authority, but all it achieved was that he snarled at the Elder, not at the ancient shifter. The air around Tristan grew heavier as he readied himself for the fight.

 

It just pissed Gibbs off even more.

 

"Gibbs!"

 

This one was different. It was not a warning, rather a cry for help or something similar. His mind cleared up a bit as he looked towards the source of the sound.

 

To his shock, the rest of his team was sprinting towards them through the ridiculously high snow.

 

"I'm gonna headslap them into next week," Gibbs snapped as he moved towards the four running figures.

 

Apparently, they had been loud enough to catch the attention of a very pissed off shifter.

 

***

 

It's interesting how fast things change. One moment Tim was running towards Gibbs and the others, the next he was running away from a raging beast.

 

It must have been Kate's cry of Gibbs' name that had caught the attention of the shifter because it replied with its trademark roar. The four of them came to a stumbling halt and their eyes snapped towards the source of the voice, the lone tower of the building. The windows shattered above as the huge body broke through them. With a loud thud, the wolf arrived on the roof of the conjoined building. It snarled at them threateningly, red eyes sizing them up one by one.

 

"Run!" someone shouted. Tim had no enough brain cells left to pair a face with the voice. He complied. He ran as fast as he could, but the way too happy and victorious roar that followed them ripped away every hope he had of escaping.

 

Shadows flew past him, then he was yanked. His world was one huge white blur, then light, then an awful cracking sound. A roar. Another undefinable sound, but equally loud. His feet finally found the ground and he was already turning, because _he had to see_.

 

The sight stole his breath away. The wolf stood tall and glorious, with its many tails swirling around him like a supernatural halo. All of its attention was on the giant elk that had appeared out of nowhere. Only its huge antlers that were ablaze with green fire gave away who it really was. It lowered its head so its antlers were held between it and the wolf. It moved its head from side to side as a warning.

 

The wolf lowered its self a bit, whole body tense. Its fur moved like angry waves of the ocean in a raging storm. The wing-like patterns seemed to come to life. The swirlings of its tails grew faster and more agitated.

 

It was not backing down.

 

"We are witnessing something that didn't happen in the last two hundred years," Ducky spoke next to Tim. Everyone, except the two shifters, was standing at the edge of the field, where to they had been dragged by the vampires.

 

Tim was too horrified and awed to care about something like that.

 

Time seemed to stop between the two shifters. For a few stomach clenching moment, no one moved. Then the wolf roared and lunged. It slammed its head against the antlers. Huge paws tried to crawl through them, while too long teeth bit down mercilessly. The elk dug its legs into the snow and pushed back. It shook its head again, then with one forceful shake, threw off its attacker. The wolf was dislodged, but as soon as its legs reached the ground, it attacked again. It tried to go for the neck of the elk, but the antlers got between them again. This time, however, when the elk tried to threw it again, one of the tails wrapped around its massive body and hindered its movements. One of the claws got close enough to slash into the side of the elk. It let out a sound that was more frustrated than pained, then it changed tactic. With the wolf still halfway on top of it, it started to charge and didn't stop till it slammed the wolf's body against the building's wall.

 

That dislodged the wolf alright.

 

The elk backed away and called out to the wolf with that strange sound again. The wolf was shaking its head as it slowly stood again. Its only acknowledgment of the pleading sound was another snarl.

 

"This is bad, " Morrow spoke up. He watched the fight with narrowed eyes. "DiNozzo has to calm down or there is no coming back from this."

 

"Tristan can surely stop him, right? He is the stronger shifter after all." Palmer sounded so hopeful, like a child.

 

"He will lose and die," Morrow spoke with a morbid finality. "He is not built for something like this and DiNozzo is completely feral. We need a T-rex sized something to stop him like this."

 

Tim placed his hand onto his pocket, where the Pangdrodite warmed his fingers through the fabric. Maybe he could...

 

"Stop, now!"

 

Tim froze and stared like a deer caught in the headlights. He blinked at the others. What did he do wrong? Only, no one was paying him any attention. Everone's eyes were fixed on something. He followed their gaze and gaped at the figure in a strange, black and golden coat, who was approaching the fighting shifters. He didn't seem to care about their size or the fact that they were fighting a battle of life and death.

 

"That's the Reaper!" Abby squealed.

 

Oh, that explained some of it and created even more questions.

 

However, the shifters weren't paying him any attention. They were engaged in another deadly wrestling match. True to Morrow's words, the wolf was winning. The elk's legs kept buckling under the weight of the wolf and the power of the onslaught.

 

"I said stop!" The black haired man snapped, then raised his arms. The two shifters were wrenched away from each other, like invisible ropes pulling them apart. The elk stood frozen, where it landed. Its color-changing eyes were fixed on the Reaper. The wolf roared in outrage at the man.

 

"Do not force my hand!" The Reaper warned it.

 

That brought the elk out of its shock and it swayed its antlers threateningly in the direction of the Reaper.

 

"There is no need for this!" The man huffed as he shimmered out of the way just to reappear a few feet away.

 

The wolf lowered itself closer to the ground again, this time the reddish eyes were fixed on the man. That deep rumbling sound filled the air again. The Reaper's eyes snapped to the feral shifter.

 

"You are dead set on forcing my hand, am I right?" he asked lowly.

 

The wolf lunged.

 

"DiNozzo!"

 

"Hey!" Gibbs shouted in outrage and with a supernatural speed, he moved towards the Reaper. Morrow and Victoria moved in unison and tackled him to the ground, few steps away from the man.

 

However, the wolf crumbled to the ground. The elk's body shook and the now familiar light filled the field. The somehow fully dressed Tristan stood in front of the Reaper in the next moment.

 

"What have you done?" he shouted.

 

"Tristan!" Morrow called out in warning from the ground, where he and Victoria still tried to keep the outraged Gibbs restrained.

 

"I don't care!" Tristan snapped.

 

The rumble came again and it stilled both the ancient shifter and the vampire. The wolf's body shuddered, then the light came. When it died down, Tony stood in the wolf's place, he too somewhat dressed in his ruined trousers. Just like how Tristan's antlers were still shimmering in and out of sight, the tails surrounding Tony were still there. His eyes were still red-golden and the tips of his hair were white. It was like he was reverse graying.

 

The Reaper smirked at Tristan.

 

"You know so little!" he remarked arrogantly.

 

Tony was barely standing on his legs, but he still found the strength to snarl at the man. By the look of it, it didn't matter he looked more human than wolf, that didn't make him any less feral. He still seemed to plan an attack on the Reaper.

  

Fingers wrapped around Tim's wrist. He looked down and stared into Will's eager eyes. They screamed 'do it!'. So, he listened to his instincts that were also screaming at him to do something. First, he shrugged out of his coat, then he took the Pangdrodite out of his pocket. He started walking.

 

"McGee!" Gibbs growl came from the ground, where Morrow was practically sitting in him. Tim ignored him. All of his attention was on the bloody, snarling mess of a shifter in front of him. They had come here to save him after all.

 

He knew the moment he caught Tony's attention. Red-golden eyes snapped towards him. Oh, there. The Growl.

 

Tim held out the Pangdrodite towards the shifter. Tony blinked at it, his rage forgotten for a moment. He didn't seem to be able to put the meaning of the stone together with the situation. It gave Tim the perfect opening.

 

"You'll catch a cold, Dumbass!" he snapped, then with one quick movement, he wrapped his coat around the shifter.

 

The whole field froze. Tim would have sworn that the snowflakes stopped mid-air. He held his breath, waiting for a reaction. He may have started praying.

 

Then oh so slowly, Tony rose his right hand and his fingers clenched in the fabric. His eyes flickered back to Tim. He blinked. Red was replaced by green.

 

Then he crumbled to the ground.

 

_To Be Continued_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Onquo alikan kodoti? - Is any home?   
> Menan mine onquo Tristan! - My name is Tristan!  
> Nome tah tava rudell dessaa é resfla - We'll meet again among the flowers,  
> Tersalve, Lyvancora! - Greetings, Lyvancora!
> 
> One more chapter to go!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are coming to an end. Or are they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for a long wait. The Universe really wanted to stop the creation of this chapter. I started working, my computer deleted the first half of this chapter when I was writing it, then my computer died and had to rewrite it the third time. It. Was. Not. Easy. But here it is, I hope you like it! Please read the notes at the end of the story. I have a very important question.

The post-fight numbness was setting in. It wasn't just him though. Everything felt a lot quieter. Ducky and Tony were gone, courtesy of Ducky's teleporting abilities. He felt an almost unbearable tug, an order coming from deep inside that wanted to force him to follow them. But he couldn't. He was the team (clan) leader. He needed to be there till the end. 

 

Come to think of it. Time to check on the others. 

 

Abby, Todd, Palmer, and McGee were huddled together and they were speaking in hushed voices. The latter three had each gotten a head-slap for their stupidity this night. They had taken unnecessary risks and it couldn't be tolerated. He would have a very long talk with them about it. Just not now. The head-slap was enough for today.

 

To his right, Audley and Will were hugging each other, the woman whispering to the shiftling. Gibbs truly thought that the kid... okay, shiftling deserved a head-slap too, but he wouldn't dare to do that to the skitterish shiftling. Though, he did deserve it.

 

The other female vampire, Kathleen was laying in one of the SUV's backseats, probably sleeping. Out of all of them, she was in the worst state. Her mate probably won't be happy with them. At least she survived, not like the Horde members in the building. Fornell was still guarding her, like a true clan leader. He was leaning against the car, while he kept staring at the Grim Reaper who was still enjoying their company. Way too much if you ask Gibbs. The man was walking around the building, gazing in through the broken windows curiously. Gibbs really hoped that he was occupied by the logistic of all those dead vampires inside. After all, it was the Reapers' job to take care of the souls of the deceased. 

 

Tristan was using the other SUV's hood as a recliner. He looked pale and worn as he absent-mindedly munched on those stupid rainbow-colored candies. Morrow, who was talking on his phone kept glancing in Tristan's and Gibbs' directions. Then he snapped his phone shut and strode towards the MCRT's leader. 

 

"A cleaner team will be here soon. However, Casey needs to be taken care of," the tone of his voice indicated that it was his task. Something he was both looking forward and not to. 

 

"That sounds interesting," Tristan spoke with a dreamy voice.

 

"The only thing that can sound interesting for you is a bed and sleep." Morrow huffed. 

 

Tristan pouted and leaned back against the windshield. 

 

"You sort out this mess!" they all spun towards the source. The Reaper strode towards them with an annoyed expression on his face. "We don't have time for this!"

 

Gibbs had plenty of colorful things to say about this but bit down on his tongue. He knew better than to piss off someone, who could kill you by saying your name, then bring you back to life just to repeat the circle. Sometimes they did that. For entertainment. Or powerplay.

 

"I'll be back soon, then we talk!" the Reaper looked each of them in the eye, Gibbs being the last. "Get your shifter back on his feet!"

 

Gibbs waited long enough for the man to shimmer away, then...

 

"Son of a bitch!"

 

"Calm down, Gibbs!" Morrow warned him. The Elder rubbed his face and sighed tiredly. "This is far from over. Someone needs to stay here to---"

 

"Me!" Fornell cut him off. The Director didn't seem to mind. He nodded towards the FBI Agent, then went on. 

 

"I'll take care of Casey---"

 

"I'm coming with you." This time Gibbs spoke over the man. That didn't make the Director happy. 

 

"You have somewhere else to be, Gibbs!"

 

The former marine glared, but Morrow had become immune to the famous death stares through the years. 

 

"This is an order, Gibbs. You have to be near DiNozzo now. Someone has to help him sort things out in his mind and it has to be you." The Director pressed.

 

"Because the Elders want a bonded pair?" Gibbs hissed, showing teeth.

 

"No," Tristan spoke as he slid off the car. Hazel eyes stared into Gibbs blue ones. "The Pup had just gone completely feral. There is nothing more traumatic for a shifter. He needs someone to anchor him, to lead him back to his humanity. Someone he trusts or can trust. I do think he trusts you." Then he flashed a grin at the Director. "I'll go with Tommy."

 

Morrow rolled his eyes.

 

"No, you won't"

 

"You do remember the part, where he is the Third Elder and you are not the Second, nor the First, right?" The shifter asked back. Morrow looked annoyed at that, but he turned to Gibbs instead of answering.

 

"Go. Your team'll follow you shortly."

 

Gibbs hesitated for another moment. After all, it was his job to see things through until the very end. However, he couldn't deny the pull that was calling him away from the scene and towards his old friend's house. Coming to a decision, he nodded at Morrow jerkily, then turned on his heels.

 

The vampires' way of transport was called gliding. Actually, they were bending time and space to their will, but it felt like actual flying. He didn't have to bother with traffic or stumbling into something or someone. Everything just slipped out of the way and in a few seconds, he was stepping through the doorstep of Ducky's house. His old friend had a guest room for all of them. A certain advantage of such a huge house. 

 

Gibbs walked past Oswald who stepped forward, probably to ask about his mate.

 

"She is fine. Will be here shortly." Gibbs spoke without stopping. 

 

"Third door on the right," Oswald spoke hurriedly, then muttered something that sounded like 'another hell of a shifter.' Like Gibbs didn't know any of that. Without a suppressor, Tony's trace was suffocating too. Not like Tristan's, but he was getting there.

 

He stopped in front of the door. His fingers hesitated above the handle for a moment. So many things happened. So many fate turning revelations. He should be the leader, but he had no idea of what was coming next. One thing he was sure of though. He was no coward. He pushed the door open. 

 

"Ducky?" 

 

The ME looked up at his surprised voice. The doctor sat on the edge of the bed, hovering over Tony. The shifter was lying on his stomach, still dressed in his dirty and bloody trousers that somehow survived his shiftings. It looked like Ducky had just finished dressing the wounds on his back. None of that was the source of his surprise though. The fact that Tony looked not older than twenty was. 

 

Ducky chuckled at him. "Well, it seems like that young Anthony is, in reality, a really young shifter." 

 

"Care to explain?" Gibbs demanded. 

 

 "You are not very educated in shifter physiology, am I right, Jethro?" 

 

He didn't comment on that, but he did glare. Not that it helped. 

 

Tony turned his head towards him fully and blinked drowsily. His trace shimmered around him, then it formed into several now-familiar tails. They lazily moved from side to side, few of them wrapped themselves around the shifter. The tips of Tony hair was still white. Like he was graying backward. It made a sharp contrast with his too young features. A shudder ran through his body. Gibbs tensed. Ducky just put a reassuring hand onto the boy's hair. 

 

"Now, Anthony! We talked about this! No shifting for now." the Spirit chided. Tony gave them a frustrated whine, which didn't sound human at all, then buried his face into the pillow again.

 

"What's going on?" Gibbs demanded. Again.

 

"The tea should be finished by now. Can you bring it here, Jethro?" Ducky asked instead of answering. Only his pointed look made Gibbs shut his mouth and back out of the room.

 

In the kitchen, of course, there was no tea anywhere. So, he simply leaned against the counter and not sulked. At least his stormy expression kept Oswald away. 

 

***

 

Wayne threw things into his suitcase without looking. He just needed a few more seconds and he would be out of there. Few more seconds, few more things to pack, then he would be on his way to one of his safe houses. Few hundred years and people would forget. Maybe a thousand. He can wait as long as needed. People would forget and he could come back. People always forget. He has lived long enough to know that. 

 

"Going on a vacation?" 

 

Wayne's fingers froze around a book. The sound had come from behind him, but he didn't turn.  

 

"We didn't book an appointment, Director Morrow," he spoke with a cold authority. He was a good actor after all. He just needed some time. His Blessed Knife slipped soundlessly out of his sleeve. He was the Third Elder. Morrow was no match against him. 

 

"Consider this an emergency meeting," Morrow spoke again.

 

"I really don't have time for this." His fingers tightened around the cold blade. 

 

"I thought that you put shifters before everything." Morrow sounded cocky. 

 

Enough is enough. 

 

Wayne spun around and raised his hand to throw the knife. However, before he could, fingers wrapped around his wrist to form a vice-like grip. His knees almost went weak when the suffocating trace suddenly filled the room. He knew that presence. Now, in front of him, the Sixth's too wide grin told its own story. 

 

He realized suddenly that there wouldn't be another thousand years. He would die soon.

 

***

 

_He_ stepped over the mummified corpse that was lying in the snow. It wore a uniform that  _he_ recognized as the vampire's cleaning crews. There were other bodies dressed like that here and there.  _He_ smirked as  _he_ stepped into the building. The air was filled with fading trace and the overwhelming scent of blood. Man... so many memories resurfaced...

 

_He_ took the stairs,  _he_ had time after all. And the elevator was ruined.  _He_ hummed to himself as  _he_ walked until  _he_ reached the highest point of the building's lone tower.

 

_He_ took in the office, the broken furniture, the blood, the scent of trace and death. Finally,  _his_ gaze fell upon the two figures in the middle of the room. 

 

One alive, one dead. 

 

The head covered in the messy, blond curls shot up. The mascara was smeared around the bloodshot blue eyes.  _He_ smiled gently at the beautiful woman. A mate lost, a wonderful opportunity for  _him_. 

 

"I'm truly sorry for your loss,"  _he_ spoke softly. 

 

"The Shifter!" her voice was barely more than a whisper. "He will pay for this."

 

"No."  _he_ spoke equally quietly. "It's just a mindless animal. I'll put it down for you. However, the vampire. Isn't his the true betrayal?"

 

"The vampire?" she asked back. 

 

"That's right. He has to pay, hasn't he?"  _he_ smirked. 

  

 

***

 

Surreal few days followed the Horde incident. It didn't matter that they had gotten Tony back and he was recovering quite quickly, because he wasn't really there. It felt like that his sentient human brain had been swapped with a dog's. At least he acted mostly like one. For some reason the basic human behavior remained, thank the Universe for that, but everything else, the intelligent side was gone. He sought touch in the most embarrassing way by snuggling against random people. When he had first done that with McGee, the young agent had almost fainted. Gibbs refused to think about his own reaction when he had done that with  _him_.

 

At least Ducky and later Tristan handled the young shifter well. Gibbs had learned a lot about going feral and the recovery out of it from them. The first rule was not to let him shift to his wolf form yet, because there was a very real possibility that he wouldn't come back from that again. The second rule was to let him be. To allow him to snuggle, to roll on the carpet, to run around aimlessly. 

 

"He needs close contact. He needs to be part of a pack right now." Ducky had explained. "Slowly our bond with him would lead him back to us." 

 

Gibbs had to admit, only to himself, of course, that he enjoyed this open, honest side of his SFA. He watched as the still very young looking shifter stared unblinkingly at the Christmas lights that had been hunged around the house by Abby when she had found out that lights really fascinated this Tony. 

 

"Pretty!" the young shifter said with a voice full of wonder. He was lying on his back under the lights, sometimes reaching for them without really touching. Suddenly he snapped his head to the side and sniffed the air. His instant megawatt grin was telling, not that Gibbs needed someone to tell him who was approaching. The suffocating trace had become a near constant in his life. 

 

Tristan barely stepped into the room and Tony was already up, wrapping his arms around the taller man. (Taller... Someone taller than Tony... Still so strange.) Tristan endured the attack with a smile. He held a bag of candy out above Tony's head. 

 

"Look what I brought!" 

 

Tony's eyes widened, then with a movement so fast that Gibbs barely saw it, he snatched it away from the shifter and he ran off with it.

 

"This is the easier part, you know." Tristan addressed the vampire.

 

"Why?" he frowned. 

 

"When he wakes, he'll be..." Tristan trailed off and hummed. "Like a pregnant woman at her worst."

 

Gibbs felt his face betray him as his eyes widened and his eyebrow shot towards his hairline. 

 

"What?" 

 

"This is the closest metaphor I can come up with." Tristan shrugged. "His hormones will go wild and he hasn't got the most trusting nature either. It will be a hell of a ride."

 

Gibbs rolled his eyes. Great... just great.

 

"What about Casey?" he changed the topic. 

 

An animalistic sound escaped Tristan's lips that Gibbs started to associate with distaste. 

 

"He is showing the same symptoms and of course, he can't talk." the shifter huffed.

 

Gibbs rubbed his face in frustration. They had decided to keep their first prisoner in Ducky's well-protected basement (isn't it scary that he actually has a dungeon?) to keep him alive, but despite their best efforts, his health started deteriorating. It was like dementia with a very fast onset and progression. And now, Casey who was kept in a very secure prison because of his status was showing the same symptoms. Things weren't looking good. 

 

"Abby is not sure that it's a witch's work," Gibbs spoke. 

 

"She might be right." Tristan agreed. 

 

The vampire frowned at him. "You know what's going on, don't you?" 

 

Tristan averted his gaze. "I might have an idea, but I have to talk with our Alpha to confirm it." 

 

"Well, talk to him!" Gibbs huffed. 

 

Tristan laughed out loud, but it wasn't his usual happy laugh. It was more on the bitter side.

 

"You really don't know a lot about our society, right?" 

 

The shifter didn't wait for his answer. He just turned on his heels and left. 

 

***

 

The return of Tony's sentient side came as a shock for the team. Ducky, Tim, and Gibbs had been in the shifter's room watching over him and supplying the company that shifter usually needed as much as air when it happened. The three of them were talking about unimportant things for once when the coldest version of Tony's voice that they had ever heard cut through their conversation. 

 

"Out!"

 

The three men froze and turned towards the shifter. Tony stood in front of his bed, dressed in faded jeans and an old hoodie, his still too young face was wearing a scowl. His cold as ice green eyes glared straight at Gibbs. The former marine unconsciously straightened his back at the threat and ... something else. 

 

"Anthony..." Ducky started, but the young shifter cut him off almost immediately. 

 

"I said out! All of you, out!" Tony was almost shouting by that time, his face flushed with anger and the not lessening heat that was his constant company since his kidnapping. 

 

Gibbs reacted without thinking about it. His brain bowed to the will of the shifter without any real reason to support it. He just grabbed the gapping Tim's arm and dragged him out of the room, with Ducky trotting after them. Only when he stopped and the door closed behind them did his ability to think return. He let go of Tim's arm and glanced at his hand. It was not his way of acting. He gave orders and not follow them. Usually. Why was he bending to Tony's will all of sudden? 

 

"Boss?" Tim asked. 

 

"Not now, McGee!" he warned. Definitely not now. 

 

"I think the wisest decision now would be calling Tristan," Ducky spoke and hurried past them. Gibbs glanced back at the door, seeing the furious trace leaking out through it. Someone else definitely should take the lead this time. At least until he figures out what was going on with him. With all of them.

 

***

 

Coming back to reality or as you may... to sanity was hard. Energy cracked under his skin and he didn't even hope to burn some of it by pacing up and down in his room. No. A room. A room that was called his in Ducky's house which was stupid thank you, because he wouldn't stay! There was a reason behind that, just like there had been a reason behind the decision to chase everyone out of this not-his-but-his room. It was just that his memories were still ... not in order. Just like his stupid nerves. Going feral would do that to you. He had experience with that. At least he had a suspicion that he had experience with that. He couldn't be sure. Like that, he couldn't be sure about anything.

 

Probably.

 

Possibly.

 

He growled and threw himself down onto the bed. It was comfy. Too comfy. He growled again and rolled off the furniture. He arrived on the floor. It was cold, which was good for his overheated skin, but it was also hard. 

 

And shiny. 

 

He growled again and rolled. Here, the carpet. It was perfectly rough and hard. 

 

But it was not cold. 

 

He turned onto his stomach and pressed his right palm against the floor next to the carpet. He sighed happily at the cold that soothed the too warm. He didn't think about how childish he must have looked, because there was no one in there with him. He had made sure of that. 

 

"Wise, Puppy!" he muttered to himself. It was not sarcastic. He was actually proud. 

 

Next task. Memories. 

 

He tried to force them back, to make an order in the chaos in his mind. He groaned as a sharp headache took away his ability to think for a few moments. Forcing himself to remember sounded like a bad idea. He seemed to like bad ideas.

 

He spent the next couple of hours forcing his mind and suffering one horrible headache after another. It was past midnight when he turned on his back and stared up at the fancy chandelier above him. Most things slipped into place. His father, Tristan, the Horde, Gibbs, NCIS. He knew he had been taken (again) and he went full feral (again). He knew there were other events, most of them important surrounding it, but they stayed in one of the black holes that existed stubbornly in his memories. 

 

He did figure out one very important fact. 

 

He had to leave as fast as possible. 

  

***

 

Tristan didn't knock, he just walked in. Somethings never change, Tony thought to himself. It was not entirely bitter, though. Seeing the old shifter was kinda refreshing. However, he didn't take his eyes off the television and the old movie that was playing. As the hours had slipped by, he had moved himself to the armchair and chose a comfort movie from the movie collection that had a convenient place in the his-not-his room on the shelves.  

 

"Evil Dead? Why am I not surprised?" Tristan spoke.

 

Tony growled at the other shifter. Tristan knew damn well why it wasn't a surprise. It was a comfort movie, end of story. 

 

"But I'm kinda surprised that you didn't take off, yet." Tristan continued nonchalantly. 

 

"This whole damn house is warded. Even the backyard." Tony muttered. He sank lower in the armchair he was currently occupying with a sigh. "I can't just leave." 

 

"So, you did try to." the older shifter sounded sad and disappointed. It got on Tony's nerves. It pushed all the wrong buttons. His temper broke to the surface and he jumped to his feet facing the man he still considered his Pack Leader. 

 

"Of course I tried!" he shouted. "I can't possibly stay here after what happened!"

 

"Tony!" it sounded like a warning. It pushed even more buttons. 

 

"Do not Tony me! They know, Tristan! They know! Everyone knows!"

 

"It's not entirely a bad thing." 

 

"Yes, it is! They are not pack!"

 

"They could be. Listen, I remember how you spoke about them. You already consider them pack, don't deny it. I know that it's really difficult for you now, but do not make a harsh decision. Give them time. They'll prove themselves, believe me." the older shifter pressed with a gentle, comforting tone. It reminded Tony of those times after his first encounter with the Horde when his father's betrayal was still fresh.

 

"Gibbs is a vampire. We have nothing to do with each other." 

 

"That didn't stop you before," Tristan pointed out. 

 

"That was different." Tony turned away and started pacing. 

 

"Because?" 

 

"Because he knows now!" Tony snapped.

 

"Yes, he does and he did everything in his power to save you and I think he is worried sick about you in his own unique grumpy way." Tristan turned his eyes towards the ceiling, he grimaced, then turned back to the younger man. "As I see it, you are the only one, who has a problem with any of this."

 

"This is not how it works." Tony snarled. "I'm better off alone." 

 

A strange sound escaped through Tristan's lips. Tony knew every animal on Earth and so he knew that none of them was capable of making this noise. It was unique. It was pure Tristan. The suppressors on the older shifter's arm must have failed one by one because the shifter's presence grew and grew till Tony could barely breathe. The presence was filled with an emotion.

 

Rage.

 

Tony gasped for breath and he staggered away from the shifter. It was impossible! Tristan has never even been angry and rage...? True to his shifter name, Tristan is a ball of sunshine. A very big ball of sunshine. He is warm and welcoming and happy. Tony used to hate him for it. Sometimes still hates him for it. And he tried to copy it. Tried to create a mask out of it. Of smiles, jokes, sometimes pranks and warmth. However, his darkness always slipped through. The darkness that seemed to be missing from this man, just like anger.

 

Rage.

 

Tristan was raging.

 

Tony's whole body was tense, preparing for flight. Never fight. He would never fight his Pack Leader. Not while still having a sentient side.

 

"What's in your head, Lyvancora?"

 

Hearing his real name hissed in anger caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand. He knew that Tristan's presence had filled the building. He was sure that the vamps were probably bolting out of the house.

 

"What the hell are you thinking?" Tristan's voice didn't rise. His quietness was worse than shouting.

 

"I..." Tony tried, but he trailed off. What could he say? Was there anything to say?

 

"Do you know what happens with lone shifters?"

 

That Tony knew. He knew the statistics. But that was different. What he wanted was different. He didn't plan to separate himself from society completely, he just refused to have attachments.

 

Tristan didn't wait for his answer though.

 

"They go feral. Irreversibly!"

 

"That wo---"

 

"Won't happen?" Tristan laughed humorlessly. It was an awful sound. Not something that should come out of Tristan's mouth.

 

"I remember Baltimore, Lyvancora!"

 

Baltimore? That was too, different.

 

"That wasn't like that," Tony said, but somehow looking at the older shifter was impossible. "I was just depressed. Had a hard time, but you know that."

 

"You were going feral!" Tristan said brutally.

 

Tony wanted to shook his head and deny it, but the facts were unforgiving. He had been clinging to Danny so hard that he hadn't noticed what his partner was up to. He had been planning to marry a woman, who hadn't know what he is. He had already seen the divorce papers with his inner eyes as he had been choosing the right ring. Years later he understood. He was desperately grasping for an anchor.

 

Then he had tackled a vampire. A fucking vampire! And he hadn't cared!

 

Tristan stood and moved away from him. His anger had disappeared and the room felt hollow with another emotion.

 

"I have to clear up a few things with Tommy," he spoke quietly. "Think. Think everything through. Then make a decision.

 

He looked defeated as he met Tony's eyes. "But you have to know, if you refuse to deal, I'm letting you go."

 

Tony sucked in a breath as coldness spread through his body. Was Tristan giving up on him? Was he abandoning him?

 

"Who do you think will have to stop you if you step through that line? You know the law. Just because our Alpha is gone, the law is still here."

 

If he becomes irreversibly feral. Horror. Tony felt horror.

 

A sad smile like something formed on Tristan's face.

 

"Never seeing you ever again is easier."

 

Tony didn't say anything as Tristan walked to the door. But the older shifter stopped as his fingers curled around the handle. He didn't turn around when he spoke again.

 

"You are not your father, Lyvancora. Stop trying to become him. Stop abandoning others."

 

Tristan left and Tony let him without a word.

 

***

 

Morrow walked into the dimly lit restaurant. The beaming waiter led him to a table in the farthest corner from the door. He sat down, ordered wine and waited. He didn't have to wait too long. Twelve minutes later, the same smiling waiter led Tristan to their table.  The shifter looked tired and worn out. Not a surprise if you take the last few days into consideration. 

 

"You okay?" Morrow asked as soon as they were alone. 

 

"Had a little dispute with the Puppy." Tristan reached for his own glass. He gulped down the red liquid like someone drowning. 

 

"He seems really out of character. It's quite concerning." The Director noted. 

 

"You keep forgetting that he was born during the Great War." 

 

"That young, ha?" 

 

"That young." Tristan nodded. 

 

Silence fell upon them. For a few minutes, they both allowed the other to get lost in their thoughts. Their dinner was served, but they didn't touch it. 

 

"You are leaving," Morrow stated. Tristan' head rose, hazel eyes searching the depths of the blue ones. 

 

"The last time you were the one who left," Tristan spoke quietly. 

 

"The War was coming. What could I have done? That was the only solution." 

 

"I'm not accusing you of anything." Tristan smiled a half smile. "I'm just stating the facts. That time you had to leave. Now, I do." 

 

Something in his voice caught Morrow's attention. 

 

"Did you... find your Alpha?" 

 

Tristan shook his head, his too-long hair flying from side to side. 

 

"No. But I did get a message from him. I have to go." 

 

Morrow nodded. Years of loneliness enforcing the serious mask on his face. 

 

"I heard that you and Ellis are together now." 

 

Tristan's face lit up at the mention of the name. It made the emptiness in Morrow even darker than before. 

 

"He is very good to me," Tristan smiled.

 

"I'm glad." Morrow nodded, hoping to mask his true emotions. Tristan's next words proved that he failed. 

 

"Tommy. We are still bonded. The fact that I have another mate now doesn't change this fact." 

 

Morrow looked back at him, watching the hazel eyes that begged him to understand the years of loneliness, fear, and emptiness. He did understand. After all, he had felt them too. 

 

"Do you think that Gibbs and DiNozzo will be smarter than us?" he asked back instead of replying. 

 

"They have to. Dark times are coming again and that Team will be in the center of it."

 

***

 

Gibbs stared out of the window, watching the mercilessly falling snow. His attention wasn't captured by the small white flakes though, but by the white, almost normal sized wolf that was running up and down in the backyard. He couldn't unsee the wild trace that surrounded the animal swayed like huge waves with every elegant movement of the animal. 

 

He knew that there had been a fight between the two shifters. Hell, even McGee could feel it. He also had a suspicion that he wouldn't see the older shifter for a long time. 

 

And if he doesn't do something, he wouldn't see the other one ever again...

 

He walked toward the back door without a clear plan. He stepped out into the snow. The white wolf stopped in front of him. For a few moments, they stared at each other. 

 

"We need to talk." 

 

The wolf stood, its body tense, head cocked slightly to the side. Red-golden eyes watched the vampire's face with supernatural sharpness. 

 

Gibbs huffed a half laugh. 

 

"You are dead set on forcing me to talk, aren't you?"

 

The wolf didn't react, just watched him. 

 

"Something is changing. Something is coming." Gibbs spoke again, accepting his fate. "There is a Reaper out there with an agenda. There is also a shifter who is after McGee and I'm not sure I can protect him alone. We still have a case, which as I think you already know, is purely supernatural. I don't ask you to like it. I don't ask you to stay forever. All I ask is you stay till we finish this one."

 

The wolf stared back at him. Golden swirled with red. Then without a word or a bark, the wolf turned around and started running again. 

 

Gibbs watched him go and let him. The final decision was out of his hands. 

 

He had a feeling that it was out of the shifter's hands too.

 

***

 

It was already dark outside and she really should have gone home by now. She bit down on her lower lip and turned her attention back to her mobile phone. A week had gone by, but there had been no word from that wayward agent. It was part of their agreement. She provides information, he keeps the source a secret and he always, always keeps her updated. 

 

"What did you get yourself into?" she whispered quietly. She had felt uneasy and jumpy all day. Somehow she was sure that it had everything to do with that damn man and his dead prisoner. 

 

She heard a sound from behind her. She spun around to see the door of an office open. It was the Office. Jacob Gallagher stepped out of the room. He looked up and through the glass doors, their eyes met. The asian features didn't betray the thoughts of the man's mind. With a sinking feeling and quickening heartbeat, she realized that he was walking towards her. 

 

"Mr. Gallagher!" she greeted him. 

 

A smile graced the handsome features. 

 

"You can call me Jacob, Ms. Rabino," he spoke. 

 

"Than it should be Maia to you too." she smiled. Flirt! Flirt like your life depends on it! She thought back on her secret information, the address and the agent's radio silence. Maybe it does depend on it. Or she just has a very wild imagination.  

 

Gallagher looked around meaningfully. "It's quite late. Honestly, I don't like the thought of such a lovely lady out on the streets this late. If you don't mind, I'd like to accompany you. Just to make sure you are safe."

 

She stared. Something surely is wrong. They hadn't spoken more than a few words since they had met. Where did this offer come from?

 

Gallagher must have seen her hesitation because he rose his hands placatingly. "There is no ulterior motive, I swear!" he smiled. "Just want to make sure that you are safe. This city is dangerous at night." 

 

Maia shook her head and forced her smiled back on to her lips. "Thank you, but sadly I have to say no. I'm actually waiting for someone. He could be here in any minute." 

 

"Oh," it sounded almost like a humm. "He must be a very lucky guy." 

 

Maia hoped that her laugh was masking her uneasiness well enough. "You are making me blush!" 

 

Gallagher bowed a little, his mysterious, nervewracking smile still present on his face. "Have a good night and stay safe!"

 

Maia waited till he disappeared out of sight. She only realized how hard she was gripping her phone when she finally loosened her fingers. She spun around and dialed the number which at she had been staring all day. She listened as it rang, then it went to voicemail. 

 

"Listen, Jerk! We had an agreement. You know better than to play with me! Call. Me. Back!" she ended the call heaving a little. 

 

She heard a soft noise from behind her again. 

 

"Jacob, I told you that I'll be fine! You can go home! It's okay." 

 

She turned around. It was not Gallagher who towered over her. It was the face of horror. 

 

She screamed. 

 

***

 

He was running. He wanted to burn that damn extra energy to nothing. He would run till he collapses. 

 

The feeling came without a warning. 

 

He shifted in the middle of a leap. The magically enhanced clothes wrapped around him by the time he stopped the transformation. He stared up at the cloudy sky. The snow was still falling. 

 

The feeling was there. Like a drum solo. A music picking up space. The pressure behind his sternum was growing. 

 

He closed his eyes and bowed his head. 

 

"Please, no." 

 

Something was coming. Something horrible was coming. 

 

***

 

Kate turned the handle slowly. She gripped her gun with her other hand. Her senses were telling her two things. Someone else than the owner of the place had been there and Gibbs would kill her if he found out what she was doing. 

 

She opened the door slowly, then she inched into the dark apartment.  

 

Vampire trace. 

 

She frowned. The Horde had been there. 

 

She moved slowly. She stepped over broken and overturned furniture, glasses, remains of plates, DVDs, clothes. She cleared room after room. In the end, she found herself alone in the ruins of Tony's apartment. She had come for supplies and she found chaos. 

 

"Bastards!" she muttered as she put away her handgun. She walked around again, this time searching for salvageable things. 

 

She walked into the bedroom. It was nothing like what she had originally thought fitted the shifter. She rubbed her sternum and swallowed down the lump in her throat. 

 

She walked to the wardrobe. She grabbed a backpack and started packing. The straps slipped out of her hands. The curtain danced to the music of the cold wind. She turned like someone in a trance. 

 

"Dear Lord..." she whispered. 

 

***

 

Gibbs studied the almost catatonic man on the mattress in front of him. He grimaced as he watched as the saliva dripped down on the ashen cheek. The eyes were almost white with something that looked like a cataract with a rapid onset. 

 

Ducky leaned over the man, trying to work his magic. 

 

"Jethro." the Doctor spoke. "I have to admit, this time I'm clueless. He is fading and he is fading fast."

 

"Not as fast as Casey. He is already dead. Something here slows it down." Gibbs spoke. 

 

The ME looked around, the ancient eyes took in all the wardings that were visible and those that weren't. "I don't know, Jethro. I truly don't know. It's quite concerning." 

 

"Think Ducky! This is important!" Gibbs pressed. His tone was not very nice about it.  

 

Ducky ignored the hostile demand. He watched as the man in front of him took in a breath, held it, blew it out slowly. Almost invisible to a stranger's eyes.

 

"Your gut's trying to say something?" he asked. 

 

"Can you feel that?"

 

***

 

Tim only noticed that something was amiss when in the middle of their video game, Jimmy's character stopped moving. 

 

"Jimmy! You are in plain sight! Move! I'll cover you!"

 

Red flashed across the screen, then Player One was dead. 

 

"Jimmy!" Tim groaned. But he swallowed back the rest of his complaint when thin fingers wrapped around his arm. He turned to see the wide eyes of Abby. Her pupils were dilated, her whole body trembled. 

 

"It's coming!" she said. Her voice shook, just like her body. 

 

"What's coming?" Tim asked back. 

 

"It's not coming," Jimmy spoke from his other side. "It's already here." 

 

***

 

They stood in front of the restaurant, a few feet away from Morrow's car. They were both staring the tiny white flakes that fell from high above. 

 

"So, it's on," Tristan spoke. 

 

"You sure don't stay for this?" Tom asked. 

 

"You forget the most important thing." 

 

"It's not about us," Tom replied. 

 

"Exactly. We each have to play our own part." 

 

***

 

Victoria shook the snow out of her coat before she stepped into their home. She smiled at Will's excited face and shining eyes. They had just arrived back from the city, watching one of the newest movies. The movie theater was Will's favorite place to be other than their house. That's the only atmosphere where he could interact somehow with other beings, without really speaking to them. 

 

Will happily bounced into the kitchen. Victoria stayed in the living room. She started tidying up the place. She reached for a book on the coffee table when she noticed that her hand was shaking. She straightened herself and stared at her fingers. Dread was spreading through her body like a tsunami. Sharp light flashed through the house. 

 

"The line! It's broken." Victoria gasped. "Will!"

 

The shiftling run out of the kitchen and stopped in front of her with wide eyes. 

 

"What's happening?" he stammered. 

 

Victoria grabbed a coat up from the sofa, she didn't even check whose and pushed it into the shiftling's arm. 

 

"Go! Through the back door! Run!" She pushed the shiftling forcefully. 

 

Poor, little Will. He didn't question her, he didn't ask. He ran like how she ordered him to. Victoria didn't allow herself a glance after him. She rushed to the bookshelves and grabbed the plain box from the top of it. The box fell to the floor as she wrapped her trembling fingers around her Blessed Knife.

 

Outside the trees were cracking loudly as the huge body of their attacker crashed through them as it approached. 

 

Victoria stepped through the front door and allowed her eyes to change to their supernatural color as the enemy exploded out of the woods.   

 

***

 

Luca walked out of the building. The weight of his case heavy on his shoulders. He was still no closer to the mystery of Fletcher' death. As a supernatural creature, a Hellhound to be exact, he knew that the killer was no human. However, even his nostrils couldn't help him out this time. The Hellhound's job was to protect the line between humans and the supernatural. So, that was what they were good at, detecting the supernatural involvement. That he was capable of. Detecting it. Specifying it? That was more of a shifter's specialty. 

 

He stopped on the last step. He closed his eyes. Just for one more minute, he wanted to shield himself from the world. From the ultimate storm that was coming. But of course, the world was cruel. And it was an innocent baby compared to the Reapers. 

 

He opened his eyes. Azrael was leaning against his car. The street lamps' light reflected from the silver pattern on his otherwise black coat. The black haired Reaper didn't seem happy. He looked mostly annoyed. At least, Luca thought, they share the sentiment. 

 

"It has started," it seemed like the man liked to state the obvious. "The vampire better has their mess sorted out. We have no time to waste."     

      

      

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! 
> 
> The next part in this series will be coming soon! AAAAaaand my very important question: I could decide what the relationship should head with Tony and Gibbs. Slash or father-son? What's your opinion?


End file.
